Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - China - Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Ratification: 1997)

The Committee notes the Government’s reply to its 2008 observation received in September 2009 and the observations made by the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) on the Government’s report.

Article 3 of the Convention. Free choice of workers’ representatives. The Government indicates that it has taken into account the views expressed by the HKCTU in 2005 and that the current method of elections for returning representatives to the Labour Advisory Board (LAB) was most suitable to local circumstances and in compliance with the requirements of the Convention as applied to the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. It further provides indications on the activities of the Committee on the Implementation of International Labour Standards (CIILS) under the auspices of the LAB. In its observations, the HKCTU states that a review of the LAB election method had been conducted in 2006 only and that the HKCTU had not been consulted. It also contests that the distribution of voting weights in the LAB was in accordance with the Convention since a union with seven members would have the same influence as a union with 80,000 members. This constituted a systemic distortion of representativeness. Furthermore, the bloc voting method of the LAB would make it possible for the largest single group of trade unions to win every seat and in the previous LAB elections, the five worker representatives always came from the same five unions. The Committee refers to the 2000 General Survey on tripartite consultation in which it indicated that governments should endeavour to secure an agreement of all the organizations concerned in establishing the consultative procedures provided for by the Convention (paragraph 34). It further recalls that the Government and the social partners should establish procedures which ensure effective consultations in a manner that is satisfactory to all parties concerned. The Committee asks the Government to keep providing detailed information on the measures taken in order to ensure effective tripartite consultations within the meaning of the Convention, including on the manner in which the representatives of employers and workers for the purposes of the Convention are chosen (Article 3). It further requests the Government to continue to report on the consultations held by the CIILS on each of the subjects listed in Article 5 during the period covered by the next report.