Coordinamento; Hong Kong Country Report

HONG KONG COUNTRY REPORT

Based on the conference presentations
by Linda To
Hong Kong Women Workers Association

  WHEN China opened its economy in the 1980s, Hong Kong's industrial investment poured into the mainland where land and labour is much cheaper. Other companies have moved to Southeast Asia Massive economic restructuring has caused an increase in redundancies, dismissals, closures, and labour disputes.
   Women workers were the worst hit by the loss in industrial jobs since most of them are on the production line. Male workers are involved more in mana gerial and skilled jobs. Of the 178,532 workers displaced from their jobs between 1986 and 1991, 114,753 were women (64%).
   Women who have remained in the declining manufacturing sector experience many problems. They are paid substandard wages -- most work on a piece-work basis and cannot earn an adequate living due to the reduction of work.
  Though the telecommunication, banking, and service sectors are growing, it is almost impossible for displaced manufacturing workers to find jobs in these sectors. Employers are not willing to hire them due to their age, minimal formal education, and lack of applicable work experience.
   If the displaced workers are able to find new jobs, the jobs are usually dirty, dangerous, difficult (3D) and low paying.
   The influx of migrant workers re sulting from Hong Kong's imported labour policy squeezes women workers from the few remaining manufacturing jobs and drives down unskilled service-sector wages. The labour importation policy unfairly pits local workers against foreign workers, most of whom are from main land China as well as Southeast and South Asia.
   These displaced manufacturing workers have become "invisible workers" due to their gender. HK's 3% unemployment rate would really climb to about 12% if they were counted among the unemployed. But instead, these workers are counted as " housewives."
   The Hong Kong government has done little to address the situation. It established an employment retraining fund but the fund is quite useless for,the workers since they experience age discrimination when applying for service sector jobs. Moreover, the retraining courses are not usually comprehensive enough for job re-entry.
   What can Hong Kong workers do to improve the situation? Trade unions and women's groups have launched campaigns against age discrimination and the imported labour policy. They have also sought social infrastructure support for workers, legal protections against unfair dismissals and closures, and effective government action to improve the employment situation for displaced women workers.

(Additional source "The Experience of HK -- A Declining EPZ" by Hong Kong Women Workers Association)

AT A GLANCE

EXPORT PROCESSING ZONES
There are in Hong Kong in the technical sense of the term, however, the entire territory is a free tade area. Some belive that the Tai Po Industial Estate and the Yuen Long Estate are EPZs.
Growth Areas: Southern China Growth Triangle
WAGES
US$969/month (average for all occupations)
US$7681month (average for factory jobs)
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
3.1% (June 1995) (highest in 9 years)
POPULATION
6,2 million
LABOUR FORCE
2.8 million (48.0% of population) (1993)
In 1992,22.9% (565,137)of the total employed population in Hong Kong worked in the manufacturing sector compared to 38.5% (365,614) in 1986.
(Source: "The Experience of Hong Kong - A Doclining EPZ" by Hong Kong Women Workers Association (HKWWA)
UNIONISATION
20%
WOMEN IN THE LABOUR FORCE
40%
ECONOMIC GROWTH
6.02% (1995)
PER CAPITA GDP (PPP)
US$ 21,670 (highest among the four NlCs)
INFLATION RATE (CPI)
9.5%
BELOW POVERTY LINE
620,000 (10% of population)

Mothers and the middle-aged need not apply
THIRTY-FIVE year old Lau Shuk-mui left the workforce to raise her children in 1987.
   When she decided to return three years later, she discovered a shrunken manufacturing base that had little need for her, even though she had 15years' experience.
   She turned to the Employees' Retraining Scheme last month in the hope of finding another job.
   "My hope is vanishing. I have been rejected over 30 times" she said.
   "I am a retrained worker, but employers do not consider my qualifcation. "
   Many Hong Kong employers simply do not recognise the value of the retraining courses. And unless there is recognition the retraining is meaningless.

Knitwear Action
The last battle

   THE effects of production relocation on Hong Kong women workers have been pervasive, but the participation of workers in campaigning for improvements in their employment situation has generally been low. The Knitwear Action was an exception.
   In July 1991, the Hong Kong Legislative Council amended the territory's trade regulations. It eliminated restrictions on Hong Kong textile exports imposed by the "country-of-origin rule." The pending regulations would permitt companies to produce knitwear garments in China while still qualifying for Hong Kong certificates of origin.
   The Hong Kong Clothing Workers General Union, expecting that the amendment would cause .20,000 local workers to lose their jobs, organised a campaign to stop passage of the amendment. 1,000 workers participated in the first rally held on 26 May 1991. Sixty workers formed a core group to analyse the situation, to decide on further actions, and to organise more workers from the industry. A union organ iser, Ms. Lee Yuk Lan, attributed to their desperation to find a way to protect their jobs.
   Most knitwear workers were in their 30s and 40s and felt that they were too old to work in other sectors. They were equipped only with skills in knitwear production and had minimal schooling. Since their command of English was nominal, their only alternative was unskilled work in the sector.
   Despite the strong workérs campaign, the trade regulations were passed. Knitwear production relocation was more massive than expected. Only minor downstream departments stayed in Hong Kong.
   The clothing union, which continued to keep in contact with its members, documented that only 6.3% o fknitwear worker union members remained in the industry while 24.8% were unemployed. Of the 45,8% who shifted to other sectors, less than 20% were able to maintain their former income levels.

(Sources: Hong Kong Clothing Industry Workers General Union; research by Hong Kong Women Workers Association, 1992)

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