Sweet 17 for statutory holidays

The Legislative Council has given the green light to increase the annual number of statutory holidays from 12 to 17 by 2030.

The move will bring the number of statutory holidays to parity with bank holidays, the former being for bluecollar workers and the latter for whitecollar office workers.

In the council meeting yesterday, lawmakers passed the Employment (Amendment) Bill, which will see the five additional statutory holidays gradually added by 2030.

However, all amendments moved by lawmakers were voted down, including those proposed by the pro-business Liberal Party and the pro-labor Federation of Trade Unions.

Felix Chung Kwok-pan from the Liberal Party proposed an amendment to the bill as he asked the government to postpone the implementation of the bill by a year.

“Is it completely unacceptable to let the business sector catch a breath during the pandemic?” Chung said.

“It is not a big problem to increase the number of holidays by itself, but there have already been a bunch of labor and welfare policies rolled out recently, including paternity leave and the extension of maternity leave. This is increasing the cost of businesses, which will eventually shift to consumers.”

On the other hand, the FTU’s Wong Kwokkin proposed to expedite the process as he found increasing five days of holidays over 10 years to be too slow. He proposed the government increase the number of holidays by four in the first three years.

“Blue-collar workers only have days off on statutory holidays, while the number of statutory holidays is lower than the number of bank holidays.

It is unfair that labor rights did not increase along with the social advancement,” Wong said.

Secretary for Labor and Welfare Law Chikwong opposed all amendments proposed by lawmakers, saying the bill has already taken into consideration the interests of both sides.

“I understand someone might want to expedite the process to increase statutory holidays, but I think there is a need to allow small and medium enterprises to adapt to the change,” he added.

One day of statutory holiday will be added every two years, Law said.

According to the bill, the Buddha’s birthday will be made a statutory holiday starting next year.

Also being made statutory holidays are the first Sunday after Christmas starting in 2024, Easter Monday starting 2026, Good Friday starting 2028 and the day following Good Friday starting 2030.