Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee has defended the administration’s proposal to import foreign workers after labour representatives walked out from a meeting with government officials in protest.
The government announced last week that it was seeking to import 20,000 foreign workers to address a labour crunch in construction, transport and aviation. Separately, authorities also proposed lifting a ban on the employment of foreign labour in 26 job categories including salespeople, hairdressers, and waiting staff.
According to local media, “several government officials,” an executive director from the Hong Kong Airport Authority and members of the Labour Advisory Board – representing both employers and employees – met on Monday morning to discuss the proposals. Six of the board’s employee representatives reportedly left the meeting early to protest the government not holding any consultations before announcing the proposals.
Speaking to reporters during his routine Tuesday press conference, Lee said he understood the employee representatives’ perspective.
“I hope you all can understand that we must ensure Hong Kong overall has a sufficient workforce so that Hong Kong can run well and that our services would not decline,” said Lee.
Lam Wai-kong from pro-Beijing group Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions said after walking out of the Monday meeting that the government’s decision to “announce first, consult later” had “completely disrespected” the opinions of the board’s members.
Lam also called the government’s plan to allow employers to hire foreign labour for the 26 job categories “completely unacceptable.”
“Especially when there is no data or objective analysis to explain clearly how many people are needed in what job category before [the ban] is lifted for two years, we think this is totally unacceptable,” said Lam.
Lee said on Tuesday that the government’s proposal was tabled with three principles in mind: prioritising local employment, protecting workers’ income, and increasing local labour training.
He added that each application to hire foreign workers for the 26 job categories would be vetted, and that the Labour Advisory Board would be consulted during the process.
The chief executive also said that the policy was necessary due to the shrinking workforce over the past two years.
The labour sector has voiced its opposition against the government’s plan. The Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union said in May that 80 per cent of surveyed construction workers disagreed with the administration’s plan. Over 70 per cent also believed the plan could lead to local unemployment and a drop in salary.
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