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In response to media reports on the arrangement of paid rest days for outsourced non-skilled workers of the Government, a government spokesman today (June 2) made the following clarification.
To tie in with the implementation of the statutory minimum wage (SMW), the Government on April 11 announced a new wage arrangement for non-skilled workers engaged under those government service contracts relying heavily on the deployment of such workers. Under the new wage arrangement, government service contractors are required to pay wages for their non-skilled workers engaged under the relevant government service contracts at a level no less than the SMW rate plus one paid rest day for every period of seven days. This is in accordance with the Minimum Wage Ordinance and the Standard Employment Contract for Employees of Contractors of Government Service Contract.
In the course of formulating the new wage arrangement, the Government has thoroughly examined and balanced various factors, including elements of existing government service contracts, the expected outcome and impact of implementation of SMW, concerns over employment and protecting non-skilled workers' rights and benefits, as well as ensuring the prudent use of public funds with a view to achieving a lawful, reasonable and sensible arrangement.
To give effect to the new wage arrangement, the Government has revised the Standard Employment Contract, setting out the method for deriving the monthly wages of workers and one paid rest day in every period of seven days to ensure that wages received by workers will not be less than SMW for all months throughout the year.
Service contractors may appropriately reflect the impact of the new wage arrangement on operating costs in tender prices for new service contracts. Since government service contracts are mainly managed on the basis of effectiveness and implementation of performance indicators, service contractors on this premise may formulate their most cost-effective way of deploying manpower, including workers' number of working days each week. The Government's arrangement of providing one paid rest day for workers working less than six days a week seeks to prevent service contractors from avoiding the payment for rest day pay through "casualisation of employment" – i.e. employing a large number of "casual workers" for the sake of obtaining the service contracts by raising the competitiveness of the tender prices at the expense of employees' interests.
The Government's arrangement will encourage service contractors to offer full-time posts as far as possible in the long run, and strikes a reasonable balance between enhancing service effectiveness and protecting the interests of workers.
In practice, the majority of outsourced non-skilled workers work six days a week. Those working one or two days a week account for a small number. Hence, the above arrangement of providing paid rest days will not result in significant increase in expenditure.
The Government reiterates that the provision of one paid rest day in every period of seven days is developed solely for application to government service contracts that rely heavily upon the deployment of non-skilled workers and in no way seeks to set a guideline for the private sector. Enterprises in the market are free to decide on the appropriate arrangement, taking into account their business conditions, affordability and needs.
Ends/Thursday, June 2, 2011
Issued at HKT 16:18
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