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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MRS. ELLIOTT:-I want to ask a question. I want to ask of these rooms that are earmarked. Is it true that these rooms are earmarked at Castle Peak and Yuen Long and this is why we have 1,100 places taken up because the Social Welfare Department cases cannot take them, is that correct?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, may I reply to that one? This is simply not true. There is no reason in the world to believe that some compassionate case cannot go to Yuen Long or Castle Peak. Quite clearly they can. In many cases they are not dependent upon a job. In many cases they are on public assistance and are entirely free to go out to places like Castle Peak and Yuen Long. Nor is it true to say that all compassionate cases arise in the urban areas.
(4) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:-
(a) Could the Chairman inform the Council if there are any difficulties in filling vacancies for cleansing labourers in the Urban Services Department?
(b) If the answer is yes, then could the Council be informed of the reasons?
(c) Has the Chairman taken into consideration the situation that we have now more multi-storey buildings when employing cleansing staff including labourers and overseers and also in purchasing refuse collection vehicles?
(d) Is it true from 1st July, 1972 the accumulative leave of cleansing staff will be cut down from 42 days to 30 days? If it is true, then why?
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, replied as follows:-
This question concerns cleansing labourers in the Urban Services Department.
The short answer to part (a) of the question is "Yes". Two main difficulties in recruiting labourers are that firstly, we are in competition with industry (particularly the building industry) and other trades, even hawking, where earnings are, we believe, greater; secondly, the job of a cleansing labourer is mundane and often arduous, dirty and unattractive.
In answer to part (c) of the question, I can assure Members that the department takes all new development into consideration when calculating its requirements for cleansing staff and equipment. We are constantly looking to mechanization to help meet the problem confronting us, but as explained at the last Council meeting, we are frustrated to some extent by our crowded roads and pavements.
The answer to the question in part (d) is that it is true that the accumulative leave of cleansing staff will be cut from 42 days to 30 days. The object of this exercise is to force staff to take leave rather than let it accumulate.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, could you kindly give us the answer. What is their pay? You said that other people's pay is much greater than their pay. What is actually the pay of our labourer?
CHAIRMAN:-A labourer's salary scale runs from $457 to $472, in addition to which they get a certain amount of cost of living allowance.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, may I ask if you will look into the complaint that I have heard that when staff try to take their leave at the proper time, they are told they can't take it and they must leave it and that is why it accumulates?
CHAIRMAN:-This is true to some extent, Mrs. ELLIOTT, particularly where we have a shortage of labour at the moment.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, do you agree with me that this $457 per month is out of touch with reality, is that correct?
CHAIRMAN:-I can't accept that Mr. Hu. This has been very carefully calculated, but the problem of the wage scale is being looked at by Government generally at the moment. It doesn't apply only to this Department.
MR. HU:-Mr. Chairman, may I ask you, if I may, have you yourself done something concerning the improvement of their pay?
CHAIRMAN:-Yes, and we are about to do something more.
MR. HU:-Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, whilst I can understand the reason for cutting down the cumulative leave from 42 days to 30 days, I hope that allowance is being made so that a man with 42 days accumulative leave doesn't at the end of June find that it has just been cut down and hasn't had an opportunity to take it.
CHAIRMAN:-In fact it won't work that way; he will retain his 42 days.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MRS. ELLIOTT:-I want to ask a question. I want to ask of these rooms that are earmarked. Is it true that these rooms are earmarked at Castle Peak and Yuen Long and this is why we have 1,100 places taken up because the Social Welfare Department cases can not take them, is that correct?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, may I reply to that one? This is simply not true. There is no reason in the world to believe that some compassionate case cannot go to Yuen Long or Castle Peak. Quite clearly they can. In many cases they are not dependent upon a job. In many cases they are on public assistance and are entirely free to go out to places like Castle Peak and Yuen Long. Nor is it true to say that all compassionate cases arise in the urban areas.
(4) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:-
(a) Could the Chairman inform the Council if there are any difficulties in filling vacancies for cleansing labourers in the Urban Services Department?
(b) If the answer is yes, then could the Council be informed
of the reasons?
(c) Has the Chairman taken into consideration the situation that we have now more multi-storey buildings when em- ploying cleansing staff including labourers and overseers and also in purchasing refuse Collection vehicles?
(d) Is it true from 1st July, 1972 the accumulative leave of cleansing staff will be cut down from 42 days to 30 days? If it is true, then why?
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, replied as follows:-
This question concerns cleansing labourers in the Urban
Services Department.
The short answer to part (a) of the question is "Yes". Two main difficulties in recruiting labourers are that
firstly, we are in competition with industry (particularly the building industry) and other trades, even hawk- ing, where earnings are, we believe, greater; secondly, the job of a cleansing labourer is mundane and
often arduous, dirty and unattractive.
In answer to part (c) of the question, I can assure Members that the department takes all new development into con-
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
89
sideration when calculating its requirements for cleansing staff and equipment. We are constantly looking to me- chanization to help meet the problem confronting us, but as explained at the last Council meeting, we are frustrated to some extent by our crowded roads and pave- ments.
The answer to the question in part (d) is that it is true that the accumulative leave of cleansing staff will be cut from 42 days to 30 days. The object of this exercise is to force staff to take leave rather than let it accumulate.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, could you kindly give us the answer. What is their pay? You said that other people's pay is much greater than their pay. What is actually the pay of our labourer?
CHAIRMAN:-A labourer's salary scale runs from $457 to $472, in addition to which they get a certain amount of cost of living allowance. MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, may I ask if you will look into the complaint that I have heard that when staff try to take their leave at the proper time, they are told they can't take it and they must leave it and that is why it accumulates?
CHAIRMAN:-This is true to some extent, Mrs. ELLIOTT, partic- ularly where we have a shortage of labour at the moment.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, do you agree with me that this $457 per month is out of touch with reality, is that correct?
CHAIRMAN:-I can't accept that Mr. Hu. This has been very carefully calculated, but the problem of the wage scale is being looked at by Government generally at the moment. It doesn't apply only to this Department.
MR. HU:-Mr. Chairman, may I ask you, if I may, have you yourself done something concerning the improvement of their pay?
CHAIRMAN:-Yes, and we are about to do something more.
MR. HU:-Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, whilst I can understand the reason for cutting down the cumulative leave from 42 days to 30 days, I hope that allowance is being made so that a man with 42 days ac- cumulative leave doesn't at the end of June find that it has just been cut down and hasn't had an opportunity to take it.
days.
CHAIRMAN:-In fact it won't work that way; he will retain his 42
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