ENG-2015 — Page 148

Employment

Continuing Education Fund (CEF)

The government's CEF subsidises continuing studies for adults. On completion of an approved course, eligible applicants receive reimbursement of 80 per cent of the fees paid, capped at $10,000 per person. Around 28,000 applications to open CEF accounts were approved in 2015.

Labour Relations

In 2015, the Labour Department handled 53 trade disputes and 14,388 employment claims. The total was 8.8 per cent lower than that of 2014. In cases where the department provided conciliation services, more than 70 per cent were settled. The department also handled two strikes which resulted in a loss of 103 working days, or an average loss of 0.03 working days per 1,000 salaried employees and wage earners, one of the lowest in the world.

Activities such as roving exhibitions, seminars and talks are organised to promote the Employment Ordinance and good people management measures. Information is disseminated through free publications, the internet, the media and networks of employers' associations and trade unions.

The department runs nine industry-based tripartite committees, covering catering, construction, theatre, logistics, property management, printing, hotel and tourism, cement and concrete, and retail, to foster industry-level dialogue and co-operation among employers, employees and the government. These committees provide effective forums for members to discuss issues of common concern to their industries.

The department also works with 18 human resources managers' clubs through meetings, seminars and newsletters, with a view to encouraging members to maintain in their own sectors effective employer-employee communication and adopt family-friendly employment practices for employees with different needs.

Trade Unions

The Registry of Trade Unions administers the Trade Unions Ordinance and promotes good and responsible trade union management. Once registered, a trade union becomes a body corporate and enjoys immunity from certain civil suits.

In 2015, 16 new unions were registered, bringing the number of registered trade unions to 885, comprising 821 employee unions, 16 employers' associations, 37 mixed organisations of employees and employers, and 11 trade union federations. Declared membership of employee unions over the past five years remained at about 810,000. During the same period, the trade union participation rate, meaning the percentage of the total declared membership of employee unions to the total number of salaried employees and wage earners, was around 23.5 per cent.

About half of the employee unions are affiliated to four major labour organisations: the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (189 unions), the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions (87 unions), the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (81 unions), and the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council (27 unions).

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