【明報專訊】News Point
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung (勞工及福利局長張建宗) explained how the members of the Provisional Minimum Wage Commission (臨時最低工資委員會) came to be agreed on the initial statutory minimum wage rate. According to him, they considered four main criteria:
1. it should not be too low;
2. it would not cause low-paid jobs to disappear in large numbers;
3. it would not inhibit economic development;
4. it would not significantly damage Hong Kong's competitive advantages.
To protect labour rights, Hong Kong may need not only minimum wage legislation but also standard working hours legislation (標準工時立法). The Legislative Council has adopted a motion to call for the enactment of such a law. To encourage underprivileged citizens and low-income employees living in remote districts to find work or stay in employment, the government launched in 2007 a pilot transport support scheme (交通費支援計劃). Under the scheme, eligible citizens have been provided with time-limited transport allowances. The Labour Department (勞工處) is responsible for protecting other labour rights enshrined in various pieces of labour legislation (such as the Employment Ordinance (《僱傭條例》)).
