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"The proposal will also increase the costs and operational difficulties of employers. The difficulty of making staffing adjustments as a result of the bill will be especially significant for small employers which make up the majority of business establishments in Hong Kong," the spokesman said.
"At the request of the Hon Mok Ying-fan, we will consult the Labour Advisory Board (LAB) on his Bill on April 21. Legislators should therefore take account of the outcome of LAB's discussion before deciding whether to support the bill," he said.
End
Government opposes Member's Bill on Collective Bargaining
The Government does not support the Employee's Rights to Representation, Consultation and Collective Bargaining Bill 1997 -- a Member's Bill sponsored by the Hon Lee Cheuk-yan and to be introduced into the Legislative Council on April 10 (Thursday).
"It is not suitable for Hong Kong to legislate for collective bargaining," a Government spokesman said.
"Collective Bargaining tends to work effectively only in an environment where a small number of establishments employ a large number of people and where the majority of employees are represented by trade unions.
"Such an environment does not exist in Hong Kong, where 94 per cent of establishments are small-sized establishments employing less than 20 employees," the spokesman explained.
He said that it was not necessary for Hong Kong to introduce legislation to provide for employee representation, consultation and collective bargaining, as the existing practice of voluntary and direct negotiation between employers and employees at enterprise level, underpinned by conciliation service rendered by the Labour Department, had been working well.
"With the current system of dispute resolution, the average number of working days lost through labour disputes in the past three years is 0.5 days per 1,000 wage earners and salaried employees," the spokesman said.
"There is no need to change the existing system," he said.