Give Anti-epidemic Funds Directly To Workers: Unions

Trade unions across the political divide have called on the government to give its next round of financial support directly to the public rather than employers.

The calls come after Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on Tuesday morning that there will be a third round of relief measures under the anti-epidemic fund.

The pro-democracy Confederation of Trade Unions said the administration should give the public another HK$10,000 handout, as it did earlier this year.

The union’s chair Carol Ng said they also want a subsidy capped at HK$16,000 for the unemployed and those on unpaid leave.

Ng said that since the government's Employment Support Scheme (ESS) was launched, they have received 146 complaints from workers, of which nearly 90 percent said they were forced to take either unpaid leave or accept reduced wages. Others have even told the union that they were laid off.

She said the scheme doesn't require employers to disclose if they have received the subsidy, and called on employees to file a report if their employer has applied for they subsidy but either failed to pay it out or forced employees to take a reduced wage or unpaid leave.

"You must directly pay the money into the workers' pocket instead of paying any middle person, any agent, or the employers,” she said.

“If you want to help somebody, you've got to help them directly, you are not just [giving] the money to somebody else and expect the third person will be kind enough and deliver it to the staff and to the workers, it doesn't work like that.”

Meanwhile, the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions also called on the government to use a "real-name registration" system so that workers can receive their subsidies directly.

This would close the loophole of employers accepting the subsidies on their behalf and not paying them, the union said.

The union said there should be a subsidy of HK$10,000 per worker for those working in hard-hit industries such as catering and tourism, and a subsidy of HK$9,000 for the unemployed and those on unpaid leave.

FTU chairman Wong Kwok also said that with a rising unemployment rate, coupled with the third wave of Covid-19 infections, the government needs to launch the third round of funding as soon as possible to help those who have been recently made redundant.

He also said that some employers require employees to self-isolate and forced them to take unpaid leave if they live near an infected Covid-19 case.

He said he hoped the third round of funding would provide these workers with funds to cover the self-quarantine period and also provide these people with free Covid-19 testing so that they can go back to work as soon as possible.