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The Government attaches great importance to upholding the rights and benefits of construction workers even though the employment situation of the sector has improved.
The unemployment rate of the construction industry has dropped from 13.7% in March to May last year to 11.3% in the same period this year.
Speaking at a dinner hosted by the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union to celebrate Lu Pan Patron's Day today (July 6), the Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour (Labour), Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said that the Government paid particular attention to wage arrears in the industry.
The Labour Department had established an early warning system with the employees' unions in the construction sector in 2002 to collect intelligence on wage defaults.
"Upon receiving reports of labour disputes from the unions, the department's Labour Relations Division will provide conciliation services and follow up the cases instantly," Mr Cheung said.
He stressed that the department had stepped up prosecution to clamp down on offending employers. In 2005, the department secured 141 convicted summonses against wage offences in the construction industry - an increase of 22% from 116 in 2004.
In the first five months this year, there were 109 convicted summonses in the sector, an upsurge of 79% over the figure of 61 for the same period last year.
In order to raise the deterrent effect on unscrupulous employers defaulting wages, the maximum penalty for wage offences had been raised to a fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years.
"In addition, a number of new monitoring measures have been introduced for new tenders of public works projects and construction projects of the Housing Authority from May 1 this year," he said.
These measures include:
- All principal contractors and sub-contractors are required to sign written employment contracts with their on-site workers. A computerised smart card system has to be installed at the construction site to keep records of workers' attendance;
- Contractors have to arrange for wage payment through auto-pay in banks or by cheque. They are required to submit copies of wage payment records to the relevant department through their principal contractor. A labour relations officer should be employed at public works sites to keep workers' records and to handle complaints on arrears of wages; and
- Tendering departments should enhance subcontracting management by restricting the number of layers of subcontractors to be engaged by the principal contractor in certain jobs and work processes. The Government is empowered to pay the outstanding wages to workers from the contract sum in proven cases of default by the Labour Tribunal. In addition, the Government would take regulatory actions against contractors for wage arrears. These actions include revoking of licence and removal from the relevant lists for tendering of public works.
Mr Cheung pointed out that with the sustained revival of the economy, the employment situation of the construction industry and its related sectors would improve.
"The Government will continue to allocate resources to take forward public works projects. This will ease the unemployment situation of the industry. In the next five years, an average of $29 billion will be earmarked for these projects per year and about 41,000 job opportunities would be created for construction workers every year."
"A number of water mains replacement and rehabilitation projects will commence at the end of 2006 and about 2,500 job opportunities will be provided for construction workers. In addition, the Tamar development project, which will commence next year, will create about 2,700 job opportunities."
"With the robust growth in tourism, 37 new hotels will be completed in the next five years. A considerable number of job opportunities will be created during the construction period," he said.
Turning to work safety, Mr Cheung said that with the collaborative efforts of the industry and the Government, the occupational safety and health performance of the construction industry had improved markedly in recent years.
The number of industrial accidents dropped significantly by 81.9% from a peak of 19,588 in 1998 to 3,548 last year, while the accident rate per thousand workers fell by 75.9% from 247.9 to 59.9.
With the concerted efforts of all parties concerned, the problems of arrears of wages would be rectified.
"The Government is firmly committed to joining hands with the trade to further reduce the number of accidents in the industry," Mr Cheung said.
Ends/Thursday, July 6, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:45
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