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The following is issued on behalf of Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting on Wednesday (June 22) at 11am in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on expeditiously implementing the formulation of standard working hours.
The motion, to be moved by Hon Ip Wai-ming, states: "That after many years of striving by the labour sector, the Minimum Wage Ordinance formally came into force this year, marking a great step forward for labour rights and interests; yet, minimum wage and standard working hours must complement each other in order to be able to maximise the effect of protecting grassroots workers and facilitating Hong Kong's economic development; in this connection, this Council urges the SAR Government to, having regard to the well-being of employees at large, spare no efforts in making preparations for enacting legislation on standard working hours and expeditiously implement the relevant tasks, including:
(a) to set a deadline and timetable for conducting studies on regulating working hours;
(b) to establish a 'study group on legislating for standard working hours' comprising representatives of the Government, employees and employers;
(c) to regularly hold discussions in the Panel on Manpower of the Legislative Council, and report to the Labour Advisory Board on the progress, so as to strengthen the Legislative Council¡¦s function of monitoring the Government on the one hand, and increase the transparency of the relevant work on the other, with a view to enabling the public and the labour sector to know the progress of the studies;
(d) to proactively ascertain the views of the trade unions of various industries and the relevant stakeholders on standard working hours; and
(e) through various forms of publicity and education, to increase the public's knowledge and understanding of standard working hours."
Hon Wong Sing-chi will move an amendment to Hon Ip Wai-ming's motion.
Dr Hon Lam Tai-fai will move a motion on safeguarding the room for business and development of small and medium enterprises. The motion, states: "That after the financial tsunami, European and American economies have not yet fully recovered, and market purchasing power has yet to revive, in addition, the US dollar has remained weak, the exchange rates of Renminbi, etc., have kept rising, rents and raw materials prices have continued to soar, causing operating costs to increase substantially and making the business environment of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) very difficult; what SMEs worry more is that if regulatory legislation is enacted in the future, they may easily contravene the law inadvertently, be oppressed by large enterprises bringing private litigations against them, and they need to bear heavy compliance costs and litigation fees, thus dealing a severe blow to their business and development, and producing inestimable negative impact on the overall economic development and employment in society; in this connection, this Council urges that when enacting cross-sector regulatory legislation, the Government should completely exempt SMEs from the scope of regulation, so as to effectively safeguard consumer interests as well as SMEs' room for development and sustainable competitiveness."
Hon Wong Ting-kwong, Hon Albert Chan, Hon Ronny Tong, Hon Wong Yuk-man and Hon Fred Li will move separate amendments to Dr Hon Lam Tai-fai's motion.
On Bills, Members will resume Second Reading debate on the Legislation Publication Bill and the Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2010. If the Bills are supported by Members and receive their Second Readings, they will then go through the Committee Stage and be read the Third time.
Members will also ask the Administration 20 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the LegCo website (www.legco.gov.hk). Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found in the LegCo website.
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Legislative Council Chamber. They may reserve seats by calling 2869 9399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also listen to the meeting via the web broadcast system on the Legislative Council homepage.
Ends/Monday, June 20, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:42
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