Brussels, 28 November 2008: Despite the serious problems faced by workers in China, some Hong Kong companies are using the financial crisis as a pretext to demand China revert to the low labour standards of “business-friendly” Hong Kong. ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder has written to the Hong Kong authorities urging them to support efforts by the mainland authorities to improve working conditions, and to resist attempts to turn the clock back.
Hong Kong is the only developed economy without legislation on maximum working hours; working weeks of up to 60 hours and more are not unusual, and yet the share of national income that goes to workers is among the lowest among the industrialised countries. Over the border while much of China’s labour legislation remains unimplemented, at least the letter of the law could provide workers with some protection – yet now small and medium business owners in Hong Kong have been joined by the major pro-government political party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), in urging the Hong Kong government to support suspending certain parts of the newly implemented Labour Contract law in China.
In the run-up to the contract law being passed, some of the most concerted and politically crucial lobbying against pro-labour aspects of the draft law came from industrial associations in Hong Kong and the region. Their lobbying continued throughout the past year – right up until the implementing regulations were finally issued in September 2008.
Businesses and politicians in Hong Kong are now claiming that the labour law – and the world financial crisis –are causing Hong Kong owned businesses to go out of business at an alarming rate. In fact, there is a massive body of evidence to the contrary, with the recent high oil prices, increased costs for transport and raw materials and the high value of the Yuan all pushing many companies to the brink over the past 12 months. Plummeting global demand is expected to make the problem considerably worse.
“With the global financial crisis now beginning to hit the real economy, workers in China need protection more than ever. This effort of powerful Hong Kong business interests with their allies inside China to roll back even modest protection is totally unacceptable,” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. “The campaign of many Hong Kong companies to maintain an underclass of low-paid Chinese workers to be exploited and discarded at will exposes their claims of ‘corporate social responsibility’ as meaningless public relations, and will hinder, not help, China’s long-term economic development,” he added.
The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates.
For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on the following numbers: +32 2 224 0204 or +32 476 621 018.
