'Employers will be subject to administration sanction'
Employers in Hong Kong have been warned that they could face sanctions if they are found to have replaced their local employees with imported labour.
"Employers will be subject to 'administration sanction,' including refusal of their future applications or revocation of the granted quota, if they violate the relevant rules," the department warned as quoted by the South China Morning Post.
According to the department, employers should not replace local workers with imported labour, adding that imported labour should be the first to be let go in cases of layoffs.
The warning from the Labour Department comes in the wake of reports that some employers in Hong Kong are replacing their local staff with imported talent following the introduction of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme.
The scheme, which was introduced more than a year ago, allows employers to import workers at technician level or below to hire for vacancies that they are struggling to fill.
But the Eating Establishment Employees General Union said it has received more than 200 cases of workers who got fired and were replaced by imported labour, the SCMP reported.
Its recent union survey also showed that more than 1,500 respondents said their employers had brought in foreign labour, with 83% of the 2,054 respondents saying they know colleagues who had been fired after imported talent was brought in.
"The original intention of the scheme was to supplement workers, but unfortunately, it has turned out to be a replacement of local workers," said Wong Pit-man, union head secretary, in a statement quoted by the SCMP.
Chris Sun, secretary for labour and welfare, said 54,278 workers had been given the green light to enter Hong Kong under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme.
Catering workers accounted for the highest share of imported talent, who were hired by restaurant chains, street-food stalls, and local diners. Their numbers are:
Kwok Wang-hing, union honorary chairman, said the main issue was the rapid importation of new labourers in the industry.
"It raises a big question as to whether [the government] should fill manpower step by step, instead of injecting new labourers within a short period of time," Kwok said as quoted by SCMP.
The Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme is set to expire in September, and Acting Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk said the government is reviewing the programme to improve it.
"We are reviewing and enhancing the scheme. We will consider the opinions by employer and labour groups in order to decide the future direction of the scheme," Cheuk said as quoted by RTHK.
