TNAG-1795-FCO40-2555-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 6

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granted exemptions to employers wishing operate work schemes other than the six, 8-hour days envisaged in the Regulations. taken advantage of

delegated authority for exemptions under the Regulations to officers at District level, So that employers can obtain a speedy response to their applications.

Many of these relaxations, especially where night work is concerned, are reviewed annually by the Labour Advisory Board and further relaxation would not be well received by the labour representatives.

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There is also a limit to

limit to administrative relaxation. Too much relaxation would defeat the purpose of the law and lay the Administration open to challenge.

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During 1986 only 22% of undertakings which employ women reported working overtime, involving 44.3% of women employees in industry. The average number of hours worked by each undertaking which reported working overtime was 103, against the legal limit of

of 200 hours. Only 3.8% of women employees were involved in excess overtime. The figures for the first half of 1987 reveal a similar pattern. This seems to suggest that further administrative relaxation would not significantly increase the amount of overtime worked by women.

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The Labour Department will closely monitor the labour shortage problem to see if the present policy of authorising up to 150 hours' additional overtime on top of the statutory 200 hours is adequate. Removing the restrictions altogether would be considered by the labour unions a retrogressive step.

Financial Implications

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There are none.

Economic Implications

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decision not to relax the criteria for importing labour for the construction industry will mean that the rate of increase in wages in the construction

construction industry will not be affected; and also that contractors will continue to have an incentive to improve productivity. Thus although the industry may be inhibited from increasing its output in the short-term, an adverse effect on wages and the removal of an incentive to improve the overall efficiency of the industry will be avoided.