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Workers offered a walking stick

HONG KONG (SE): While welcoming a plan to subsidise transport costs for working people presented by the chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, in her maiden policy address on October 11, the Catholic Commission for Labour Affairs is calling it a token gesture or cosmetic throwaway line.
 
In a statement released on the same day Lam addressed the Legislative Council, the commission said that the fundamental difficulties faced by working people involve long work hours, low wages and a lack of any realistic retirement protection plan.
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Work contracts not the answer

HONG KONG (SE): Whether the contractual working hours proposal put forward by the government on June 13 would solve the ongoing dilemma of the high number of overtime hours worked by employees in Hong Kong or not remains a moot point.
 
A statement issued on June 14 by the Hong Kong Catholic Commission for Labour Affairs indicates that it believes that it could well only serve to further muddy the waters.
 
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Contract work hours and other problems

The duty of heads of government is to harmonise sectoral interests with the requirements of justice in order that the common good may be attained in conjunction with the contribution of every citizen (The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church 168-9).
 
But on working hours and the offset against the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) for severance pay, the government hurriedly launched two policies, which are neither fish, flesh nor fowl, as personal political aspirations were placed over people’s need.







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Long working hours taking a terrible toll commission survey finds

HONG KONG (SE): The Catholic Commission for Labour Affairs released the findings of its survey on the impact of long working hours during a press conference on April 23, one week before Labour Day on May 1. Most respondents said they worked long hours, which impacted their family, health and faith life.
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