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The Government will shortly implement a Manpower Development Plan for the Textiles and Clothing Industry.
The plan seeks to attract local workers to enter or re-enter the industry through active recruitment and structured training. It will also allow employers the flexibility to import skilled workers to facilitate the development of the industry in Hong Kong, thereby creating more local job opportunities.
A spokesman for the Economic Development and Labour Bureau said today (January 12), "Following the imposition of quota restrictions by the United States and the European Union on Mainland-made textiles and clothing (T&C) products, some Hong Kong manufacturers intend to relocate part or all of their operations in the Mainland back to Hong Kong or to expand their production here as products made in Hong Kong are not subject to similar quota restrictions.
"However, the difficulty of recruiting sufficient skilled local workers is seen by the industry as the major hurdle to return to Hong Kong or expand their local production lines. Thus, we put forward this Manpower Development Plan for the T&C industry," he said.
Apart from allowing flexible importation of skilled labour, another key element of the plan is to ensure that local workers be given priority in employment and training, and be given a basic income. These measures will help retain skilled workers in the industry, attract local workers to enter or re-enter the industry and enhance the supply and skills of local workers.
"As far as manufacturers are concerned, they could grasp the present opportunity to relocate their operations back to Hong Kong or expand their production here through flexible importation of skilled workers under the Supplementary Labour Scheme. This would ease the immediate manpower shortage of the industry and generate more local job opportunities," the spokesman said.
The Government plans to allow T&C manufacturers to meet the shortfall in local skilled workers by importing workers within the framework of the Supplementary Labour Scheme on a trial basis. A review will be conducted annually and a comprehensive review will be undertaken when the number of imported workers approved reaches 5,000.
The plan applies to four posts: General Sewing Machine Operator (GSMO), Special Sewing Machine Operator (SSMO), Knitting Machine Operator (KMO) and Linking Machine Operator (LMO).
To strike a balance between the creation of job opportunities for the industry and the need for imported labour, employers have to adhere to a fixed recruitment ratio of local workers to imported workers.
In essence, the ratios for the garment sector will range from 1:1 to 1:4 whereas the ratio for the knitwear industry will be 1:4.
To protect the job opportunities of local workers, employers will have to undergo a two-week local recruitment exercise to fill the required percentage of vacancies before approval to import workers would be granted. The recruitment exercise will be coordinated by a recruitment/training centre to be set up by the Clothing Industry Training Authority (CLITA). Employers are free to recruit local workers through their own channels.
The recruitment/training centre is expected to be operational by the end of this month. It will conduct trade tests for local workers on the relevant skills to ensure that they meet the basic skill level. It will also refer those workers who wish to re-enter the trade but fail to meet the required standard and those who are new to the trade to attend relevant retraining courses organised by CLITA. Retrainees will receive a retraining allowance and a three-month post-placement follow-up service.
The Labour Department will accept employers' applications for importation of labour four weeks after the launch of the centre. It will take about eight weeks for the department to process an application while the Immigration Department will take another four to six weeks to process an application for a visa/entry permit.
To ensure a stable income for local workers and to attract more former skilled workers and new blood alike to the industry, employers who import workers under the flexibility measures are required to provide a basic income for local workers of the four post titles.
The employer should pay the local workers a basic daily wage for each working day plus remuneration calculated on the basis of piece-rate beyond the threshold of work done for the basic wage; and the local workers will be guaranteed a minimum total remuneration over every 26-week period.
The basic daily wage rates and the 26-week guaranteed remuneration are as follows:
basic daily wage 26-week guaranteed
for each working day remuneration
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GSMO/SSMO $200 $24,000
KMO/LMO $235 $27,000
Imported workers will receive monthly wages calculated on the same basis as local workers as follows:
basic daily wage basic
for each working day* monthly wage*
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GSMO/SSMO $200 $4,000
KMO/LMO $235 $4,500
*plus piece-rate income beyond the basic daily wage
The Labour Department will put in place stringent monitoring measures. These include setting wage protection as one of the criteria for flexible importation of labour. Employers will be required to notify local workers concerned of the wage protection by posting up notices. The Labour Department will, where appropriate, require employers to submit a list of local workers and their wage records.
The Labour Department will set up a complaint hotline and investigate thoroughly any complaints lodged. The flexibility measures will be subject to the overall monitoring by the Labour Advisory Board.
On training measures under the plan, the Government will set up a Committee on Manpower Development for the T&C industry comprising representatives of the Labour Advisory Board, T&C manufacturers, industry-specific labour unions, training bodies and relevant Government bureaus/departments. The Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, will be the chairman of the committee.
The committee will identify how best to strengthen the recruitment of local workers and monitor the effectiveness of the flexibility measures for importation of labour.
To assist new entrants and encourage employers to take on new hands, the Labour Department will fuse its Work Trial Scheme and Employment Training Programme for the Middle-aged into CLITA's retraining programmes.
Graduate retrainees will be put on the Work Trial Scheme, under which they will get a one-off subsidy of $4,500 from the department, and payment of $500 from the participating manufacturers for the one-month work trial period.
In addition, should the retrainees be aged 40 or above and their employers meet the eligibility criteria, the employers will also get an on-the-job training allowance of $1,500 per month for up to three months under the Employment Training Programme for the Middle-aged.
Summing up, the spokesman said that the plan would generate more local employment opportunities.
"The recruitment ratio of local workers to imported labour would ensure that additional local workers could take up employment and help develop the industry. It will also generate more job opportunities in other supporting and ancillary positions, such as merchandisers, shipping clerks and general labourers," he said.
Ends/Thursday, January 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:31
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