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The Labour Department handled 73 labour disputes for the first four months of this year, down 17% compared with 88 cases in the same period last year.
As regards the number of claims, a total of 8,231 cases were recorded in the first four months of this year, representing a drop of 2.5% on the figure of 8,441 in the corresponding period last year.
The above figures reflected the healthy development of labour relations in Hong Kong, the Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said today (May 12) at a labour relations seminar.
He said the department had all along adopted a positive and proactive approach in handling labour relations, offering professional conciliation services to help employers and employees resolve their disputes.
In 2005, the Labour Department handled a total of 26,189 labour disputes and claims, over 69% of which were resolved by conciliation provided by the department. For the first four months of this year, the successful conciliation rate reached 69.3%, a slight increase of 0.2% over the same period last year. The overall situation is encouraging.
"The concerted efforts of employers, employees and the government are essential in order to build a harmonious labour relationship and create a favourable business environment in Hong Kong," Mr Cheung said.
In this connection, the department has adopted a multi-pronged approach, such as seminars, talks and industry-based tripartite meetings in promoting good people-management practices to employers and human resource managers. These activities encourage employers and employees to resolve voluntarily their labour problems.
"The occurrence of labour disputes often revealed the existence of personnel management problems in the enterprise. The management has to address these problems, find out the crux of the matter and work out a solution," he said.
Mr Cheung recommended three tips to the participants to help prevent labour disputes. The three elements are "communication", meaning active communication with the employees to better understand their needs and difficulties; "consideration", referring to the caring of the livelihood of employees by formulating family-friendly employment policies; and "commitment", the realisation of the promises made to employees and the implementation of good people-management practices.
The President of the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management, Mr Lai Kam-tong, addressed the seminar about fostering employee-based culture. The President of Hong Kong People Management Association, Professor Chiu Ki-kwan Randy, gave a talk on how employers and employees could join hands to resolve disputes. The Labour Department's Labour Officer, Ms Leung Pik-wah, cited relevant laws and cases to illustrate the key points on termination of employment contracts. More than 300 human resource managers and traders attended the seminar today.
Ends/Friday, May 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:52
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