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Following is a question by Dr Hon Lam Tai-fai and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (May 8):
Question:
The labour dispute at the Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) (the dispute) has been going on for several weeks. There are comments that all parties concerned, including the workers, employers and even the freight industry of Hong Kong as a whole, have become losers in the incident, and the occurrence of the dispute will only further weaken the capability of the freight industry of Hong Kong to withstand keen competition from the Mainland and other international terminals. Although the Government has been continuously urging all parties to exercise restraint, keep calm and resume negotiations, such efforts are of little avail so far. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether the authorities have assessed the impacts caused by the dispute in terms of the following:
(i) the aggregate amount of wages lost by the workers on strike;
(ii) monetary losses suffered by various contractors;
(iii) specific impacts on the operation of HIT, including the average number of days delayed for goods delivery;
(iv) monetary losses suffered by HIT; and
(v) financial losses of the import, export and re-export sectors in Hong Kong;
if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) as there are comments that the dispute has escalated from an incident of labour dispute to social conflict, of the measures put in place by the authorities to effectively prevent similar disputes from recurring and the situation from deteriorating in future;
(c) when the Labour Department commenced its mediation work; of the number and ranks of the officers deployed by the Department to engage in the mediation work, and how they differ from those for handling other labour disputes in the past; of the process of negotiations and specific difficulties therein; whether it has investigated if there was any dereliction of duty on the part of government officers in the incident;
(d) whether it has assessed the impact of foreign unions' intervention in the dispute on the development of labour movement in Hong Kong and the Government's mediation effort; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(e) as Global Stevedoring Service, one of the contractors, has recently closed down its business, whether the Labour Department has received any request of assistance from the affected terminal workers; if it has, of the details; whether it has proactively contacted other contractors to assist the unemployed workers to return to work;
(f) whether it has assessed the threat of the rapid development of the terminals on the Mainland in recent years to the terminals in Hong Kong and its impact on the development prospect of the freight industry in Hong Kong (with illustration of the trend of the turnover volume of the containers handled by the terminals in Hong Kong in the past five years), and if the freight industry in Hong Kong can withstand the impact of the persisted dispute; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(g) whether it has assessed if, under the trend of mechanization and automation in terminal operation, the terminal workers of some job types will face unemployment, which will result in labour disputes emerging one after another; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; of the reserved manpower for the terminals in Hong Kong at present and in future respectively?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the question raised by the Dr Hon Lam Tai-fai is as follows:
(a) (i) In the course of the industrial action a number of contractors of the Hong Kong International Terminals were involved and the number of workers on strike fluctuated. Coupled with the subsequent cessation of business of one of the contractors, we are not able to obtain precise information on the workers on strike. Based on a rough estimate, as at May 6, 2013 the aggregate amount of wages lost by the workers on strike was more than $10 million.
(ii) to (v) According to the data announced by the Port Development Council on April 15 this year, the preliminary statistics of the total throughput of Kwai Tsing Container Terminals in March 2013 was 1.42 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), 5.9 per cent lower than that of the same period last year. However, as the strike just started towards the end of March, its impact on the overall throughput of the Hong Kong Port was not significant. The statistics for April will be announced in mid-May. As relevant information is not available to the Government, it is difficult to assess the losses incurred by the companies concerned. The impact on other industries in Hong Kong remains to be seen.
(b) The Labour Department (LD) will, as has always been the case, take all necessary measures in a proactive and pragmatic manner to closely monitor the labour relations situation of different industries by gathering information through its contacts with employers and trade unions. Through providing advice to both employers and employees from time to time and rendering our conciliation service where necessary, we endeavour to help resolve their differences. In parallel, through various publicity and promotional activities, we encourage employers to adopt good people management practices with a view to building harmonious employer-employee relationships. Indeed, the labour relations scene in Hong Kong was generally fine over the past few years and large-scale industrial actions were not common.
(c) The Government attached great importance to the industrial action at the Hong Kong International Terminals. Right from the start of the industrial action, a dedicated team of officers from the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) and LD had been making all-out efforts to foster dialogue between the relevant parties. The team comprised the Secretary for Labour and Welfare and staff of his office, the Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, the Commissioner for Labour, relevant directorate officers and experienced conciliation officers of the Labour Relations Division of LD, totalling more than 10 officers plus other frontline supporting staff. They worked as a team to follow up and monitor the labour dispute closely and proactively.
This industrial action was rather complicated. The diversity of issues and number of parties involved as well as the various pre-conditions for attending conciliation meetings set by the parties concerned made it difficult in arranging and conducting conciliation meetings. The sudden cessation of one of the contractors concerned compounded the uncertainties and difficulties of the conciliation process. Despite these, with the strenuous and unceasing efforts of LWB and LD, five rounds of conciliation meetings for employers and employees were held. At the request of the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, the contractors concerned provided a written reassurance to LD to confirm their final pay rise package on May 6, 2013. The workers on strike announced on the same day their acceptance of the package and called off the industrial action.
(d) In handling any labour disputes, the prime task of LD is to assist and facilitate all the relevant parties, employers, employees and trade unions to engage in direct dialogue and to help all parties explore viable options. In this particular strike, all the trade unions participating in conciliation meetings are registered trade unions in Hong Kong.
(e) The Labour Relations Division of LD has set up an enquiry hotline for workers affected by the cessation of business of the Global Stevedoring Service Company Limited (Global) to enquire on their employment rights and benefits under the law. As at May 6, 2013, LD received 28 enquiries from these workers.
The Hong Kong International Terminals had indicated that the work previously undertaken by Global would be distributed to other contractors. The company also announced on May 6, 2013 that it had actively liaised with other contractors and encouraged them to hire Global's former crane operators who had not yet been employed to facilitate their return to the industry. We understand that some of the contractors have placed recruitment advertisements in the press and made phone calls to some former employees of Global to offer them employment.
(f) The Government is conducting the Study on the Strategic Development Plan for Hong Kong Port 2030. It will take into consideration changes in the international economic environment, the port development in the neighbouring areas and the competitive edge of the Hong Kong Port (HKP) so as to update the port cargo forecasts, recommend how to make more efficient use of the existing port facilities, and review the future development plan for the HKP. The study is expected to be completed in the next few months.
The container throughput of the HKP in the past five years is set out below:
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Throughput
(million TEUs) 24.5 21.0 23.7 24.4 23.1
In the short term, as the overall capacity of the container terminals in Hong Kong cannot be fully utilised owing to the strike, freight has been delayed, and some cargo have been diverted to other ports in the region. In overall terms, the competitiveness of container terminals in Hong Kong is attributed to our free port status, efficient customs, reliability of port services and a multimodal transport network connecting Hong Kong with the Mainland and the rest of world. However, if the strike were to continue, the competitiveness of the HKP would definitely be undermined in the long run as the trade might make other freight arrangements in terms of port calls in response to the situation.
(g) The container terminals in Hong Kong are operated by private enterprises and their mode of operation involves commercial decisions. A major contributor to the economic growth of Hong Kong is the ever increasing labour productivity across trades and industries, which is reflected by the rising average output of the labour force of Hong Kong. At present, the overall employment situation in Hong Kong remained favourable, with a relatively low unemployment rate of 3.5 per cent (from January to March this year).
According to the statistics of the Census and Statistics Department, the employment size of container terminals, mid-stream operation and container backup activities varies slightly every year. The figure for 2009 was 8 428 persons. It rose slightly to 8 452 persons in 2010 and dropped to 7 674 persons in 2011. The statistics for 2012 are still being processed and will be available later this year.
Ends/Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Issued at HKT 13:03
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