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Employment
During the year, the department handled 55 trade disputes and 14,672 employment claims. The total was 2 per cent higher than that of 2015. In cases where the department provided conciliation services, more than 70 per cent were settled. It also handled three strikes which resulted in a loss of 169 working days, or an average loss of 0.05 working days per 1,000 salaried employees and wage earners, one of the lowest in the world.
Trade Unions
The Registry of Trade Unions administers the Trade Unions Ordinance and promotes good and responsible trade union management. Once registered, a trade union becomes a body corporate and enjoys immunity from certain civil suits.
In 2016, eight new unions were registered, bringing the number of registered trade unions to 890, comprising 828 employee unions, 15 employers' associations, 36 mixed organisations of employees and employers, and 11 trade union federations. Declared membership of employee unions over the past five years remained at about 830,000. During the same period, the trade. union participation rate, meaning the percentage of the total declared membership of employee unions to the total number of salaried employees and wage earners, was 23.8 per
cent.
About half of the employee unions are affiliated to four major labour organisations: the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (190 unions), Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions (89 unions), Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (80 unions), and Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council (27 unions).
Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board
This board determines claims arising from disputes of statutory or contractual rights of employment that involve not more than 10 claimants in each case and for sums not exceeding $8,000 per claimant. In 2016, it dealt with 923 claims and granted awards amounting to $2.16 million.
Labour Tribunal
The Labour Tribunal is part of the Judiciary. It is a quick, simple and inexpensive channel for adjudicating labour disputes that are not within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board. In 2016, 4,326 cases were filed with the tribunal, of which 4,253 were initiated by employees and 73 by employers. Of these, 92 per cent were referred to the tribunal by the Labour Department. The tribunal dealt with 4,048 cases and granted awards totalling more than $246 million, or 409 cases and $45 million more than in 2015.
Employees' Rights and Benefits
The Employment Ordinance provides for various employment-related benefits and entitlements to employees. Over and above the statutory requirements, employers and employees are free to negotiate the terms and conditions of employment.
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