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Following is the question by the Hon Chan Yuen-han and a written reply by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, in the Legislative Council today (November 2):
Question:
Regarding the non-local staff recruited by the Hong Kong Disneyland (HKD), will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current number of such staff, together with breakdowns by the positions taken up by them and in accordance with the table below; and
The type of labour
importation scheme
under which employment
visas were granted Number of staff
------------------ ---------------
General Policy on
Entry for Employment
Admission Scheme for Mainland
Talents and Professionals
Admission of Mainland Students Graduated
from University Grants
Committee-funded Institutions
in Hong Kong
Supplementary Labour Scheme
Foreign Domestic Helpers
(b) whether, before recruiting these non-local staff, HKD has conducted any local recruitment exercise and adopted the principle of according priority of employment to local residents; if not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) According to the Hongkong International Theme Parks Ltd (HKITP), the breakdown of their non-local staff is as follows:
The type of labour
importation scheme
under which employment
visas were granted Number of staff Position
----------------- ------------- --------
General Policy 200 Senior management
on Entry for staff & performing
Employment entertainers
Admission Scheme 10 Performing
for Mainland Talents entertainers
and Professionals
Admission of 0
Mainland Students
Graduated from
University Grants
Committee-funded Institutions
in Hong Kong
Supplementary 0
Labour Scheme
Foreign Domestic 0
Helpers
(b) HKITP has advised that their employment policy is to recruit in Hong Kong, with priority given to qualified local applicants. HKITP has about 4,900 staff members, and over 95% of them are recruited locally.
Most of their non-local staff members are performing entertainers engaged in very type-specific roles, e.g. fire/knife dancers and "Festival of the Lion King" vocalists. HKITP considers that it is a challenge to hire a large number of performing entertainers simultaneously to meet the requirement of a newly-opened theme park. HKITP first conducted their recruitment exercise for every performing role in Hong Kong, with recruitment priority given to qualified local performers. HKITP would only recruit in other places for roles which they have been unable to successfully cast in Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, November 2, 2005
Issued at HKT 14:15
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