Labour Issues

The Chamber agrees with the Government's objective to lower rate of industrial accidents. However, the Chamber queries whether the proposed substantial increase in the maximum statutory level of penalties on businesses can achieve such objective. The Government should take a holistic approach and focus on other approaches to reducing industrial accidents, instead of simply increasing penalties and fines.

The Chamber supports the Government’s efforts to implement anti-tax avoidance measures for plugging the loopholes of misusing or abusing Hong Kong to obtain ORSO exemption. We also call for a proper regulatory assessment in certain areas to ensure Hong Kong’s competitiveness would not be undermined, in particular an absolute ban on new exemption applications under ORSO.

The Chamber would like to provide our views on the report submitted by the Standard Working Hours Committee to the Chief Executive in January 2017 for the Legislative Council Manpower Panel’s consideration.

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce supports, in principle, the concept of having a “big frame”. We believe this option would adequately address employers and employees’ concerns about working hours, overtime and compensation arrangements without resorting to legislation. We object to the “small frame” as this artificial manipulation of employment terms for part of the labour force might weaken the flexibility of the labour market, thereby undermining our economy’s ability to adjust in adverse market conditions.

Regarding the Minimum Wage Commission’s consultation exercise on the review of the Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) rate, given the recent economic slowdown and gloomy outlook, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce believes that the Commission should pay particular attention to keeping the appropriate balance of not having unduly low wages, minimizing job loss and sustaining Hong Kong’s economic growth and competitiveness in determining the wage rate. Therefore, we would like the Commission to consider maintaining the SMW rate unchanged at the current level.