SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1986
+THESE INCLUDE THE EXCLUSION FROM COVERAGE OF EMPLOYEES WHO ARE FORCED TO RESIGN DUE TO OLD AGE AND PROLONGED ILL HEALTH, THE LIMITING OF EMPLOYEES ELIGIBLE FOR PROTECTION AND BENEFITS BY REASON OF AGE, AND THE DISMISSAL OF EMPLOYEES WHO ARE ABOUT TO QUALIFY FOR PROTECTION UNDER THE SCHEME, HE SAID.
+THE DEPARTMENT IS NOW COLLECTING INFORMATION FROM VARIOUS SECTORS AND AN OVERALL REVIEW WILL BE CONDUCTED EARLY NEXT YEAR,+ MR CHEN ADDED.
HE POINTED OUT THAT 306 COMPLAINTS FROM WORKERS CONCERNING LONG SERVICE PAYMENT WERE RECEIVED IN THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF THIS YEAR.
THIS FIGURE REPRESENTED ONLY 2.4 PER CENT OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF COMPLAINT CASES RECEIVED IN THE SAME PERIOD. AS A RESULT OF CONCILIATION EFFORTS BY THE DEPARTMENT'S LABOUR RELATIONS SERVICE (LRS), A TOTAL OF $1.3 MILLION WAS PAID OUT TO WORKERS.
HE FURTHER REVEALED THAT OF DISMISSAL CASES, 72 WERE IN CONNECTION WITH OLD AGE AND 18 RELATED TO PROLONGED ILLNESS OF WORKERS. OF THE DISMISSED WORKERS, 70 PER CENT WERE AGED OVER 50 WHILE 40 PER CENT OF THOSE CLAIMING FOR COMPENSATION HAD SERVED THE IR EMPLOYERS FOR AT LEAST TEN YEARS.
TURNING TO LABOUR RELATIONS IN HONG KONG, MR CHEN SAID THAT IT COMPARED FAVOURABLY WITH MOST OTHER INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD.
LAST YEAR, THERE WERE ONLY THREE WORK STOPPAGES RESULTING IN THE LOSS OF 1 160 WORKING DAYS, HE SAID.
+ALTHOUGH LATEST STATISTICS ON OTHER COUNTRIES ARE NOT AVAILABLE, THE 1984 FIGURES SHOWED THAT THE NUMBER OF DAYS LOST FOR EVERY 10 000 WORKING DAYS IN THAT YEAR WAS 0.04 IN HONG KONG AS CUMPARED WITH 0,19 IN JAPAN, 2.4 IN THE UNITED STATES AND 31.92 IN THE UNITED KINGDOM,
IN THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF THIS YEAR THE LRS HANDLED 166 TRADE DISPUTES AND HELPED SETTLE MORE THAN 14 500 CLAIMS INVOLVING SOME 38 000 WORKERS. AS A RESULT, NEARLY $70 MILLION WERE PAID TO WORKERS INVOLVED IN THE DISPUTES. DURING THE SAME PERIOD IT GAVE ADVICE IN 320 000 CASES ON MATTERS RELATING TO CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT AND PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.
THE LRS ALSO CONDUCTS A SYSTEMATIC PROGRAMME OF VISITS TO EMPLOYERS AND TRADE ASSOCIATIONS, AND ORGANISES SEMINARS, LECTURES, EXHIBITIONS AND TRAINING COURSES TO HELP BOTH EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES TO UNDERSTAND BETTER THE IR OBLIGATIONS AND RIGHTS UNDER THE LABOUR LEGISLATION.
/MR CHEN