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Improvements to ACP Labour Importation Scheme
The Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Joseph W P Wong, today (Monday) said that the package of measures to improve the operation and strengthen the monitoring of the Special Labour Importation Scheme for the New Airport and Related Projects (ACP Scheme) was to ensure that the Scheme will continue to achieve its objectives.
Writing to the Chairman of the Manpower Panel of the Legislative Council, Mr Wong said he hoped the improvement measures would help the Panel's on-going inquiry into the labour disputes involving workers admitted under the ACP.
He said the spate of labour disputes at the end of last year revealed that the operation of ACP Labour Importation Scheme needed to be improved, noting that the Government had reviewed the operation of the Scheme and had introduced a series of new measures in recent months. They include:
Vetting and approval of quota applications
NAPCO (New Airport Projects Co-ordination Office) since February this year, has extended the vetting and verification procedures on the number, type, and duration of employment of imported workers from principal contract to the subcontract level. The move is to help the Government ascertain more accurately the manpower requirements of the awarded subcontracts and guard against excessive bids for quotas by subcontractors.
Recruitment of Local Workers
To address the concern that local workers should be given priority in filling ACP jobs, Labour Department (LD) has provided a special placement service since March 1995 and assisted the Airport Authority and the Mass Transit Railway Corporation to open a job centre in mid-January this year to facilitate the recruitment of local workers.
In order to attract more local workers to work on Chek Lap Kok, improvements have been made to the ferry service and on-site accommodation has been made available at a fee for local workers.