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Tripartite efforts to resolve arrears of wages problem

The Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour (Labour), Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, and the Labour Department officials conducted a tripartite meeting today (July 22) with representatives from the Hong Kong Construction Association and the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union. The meeting is to find ways to resolve the problem of arrears of wages in the construction industry.

At the meeting, the three parties reached a consensus on six measures to ensure that rights and benefits of workers are protected.

The representatives attending the meeting were the President of the Hong Kong Construction Association, Mr Wong Wing-ho, the Vice-president, Mr Louis Wong, and the Secretary General, Mr Patrick Chan; the Chairman of the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union, Mr Choi Chun-wa, and the Consultant, Mr Poon To-chuen; as well as the General Secretary of Construction Site Workers' General Union, Mr Vincent Sung.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Cheung said: "We hope that through the collaborated efforts of the Government,employer associations and trade unions, labour disputes similar to that of the Yau Tong incident can be handled more effectively and determinedly."

"The Government is very concerned about the incident. We will look for immediate and practical measures first to resolve similar incidents. We will enhance communication to work out an effective mechanism to safeguard the rights and benefits of employees and principal contractors."

The six immediate measures are:

  1. the Government will produce radio and television announcements of public interest to remind employers and employees of the importance of keeping wage and attendance records and their statutory obligations and protection on wages;
  2. posters listing out telephone numbers of the Labour Department, the principal contractor and the person responsible will be mounted up at construction sites;
  3. principal contractors will supervise their subcontractors to ensure the prompt payment of wages;
  4. the trade association will appeal to its member contractors to supervise their subcontractors to pay wages on time;
  5. a communication system with the trade unions will be developed to gather intelligence on allegations of non-payment of wages; and
  6. the Labour Department will pay special attention to construction sites nearing completion in order to ensure employees' rights and benefits are protected. If circumstances warrant, the Labour Department will take resolute action in prosecution. Trade unions in the industry will appeal to their members to come forward as prosecution witnesses, while the employer association will give full collaboration.

"The Construction Industry Review Committee has completed its review on the structural problems of the industry and has submitted its recommendations to the Government. The recommendations on subcontracting and worker registration have been endorsed."

"We will put forward our proposals to the Provisional Construction Industry Committee for their reference."

"I believe that through the concerted efforts of the employer association, the trade union and the Government in resolving similar labour disputes, the rights and benefits of employees and principal contractors can be protected," Mr Cheung said.