The Legislative Council passed the third reading yesterday (9th) to abolish MPF hedging. The Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong today (10th) said on the commercial TV program “Let’s Go on a Sunny Day” that this is just a comma to improve retirement protection, Not a full stop. Regarding the government’s goal of implementing the cancellation of hedging in 2025, there are voices questioning that it is too slow. Law Chi-kwong explained that the implementation of the cancellation must cooperate with the “Easy MPF” platform. At present, 40% of employers still submit MPF information in writing. Digitization requires hiring more than 1,000 people and building another system, which will not be completed until 2026.
For some business people who pointed out that they supported the plan because of the MPF hedging, and criticized the current violation of the commitments made in the past, Law Chi-kwong responded that he did not believe that the content of the legislation at that time would never change. He also pointed out that in 2000, Before the implementation of the MPF system, employers themselves might hedge long service funds through voluntary provident funds, emphasizing that the current situation is only returning to the situation before 2000. Law also quoted data as saying that only 40% of employees in the labor market can receive long service payments, and employers still have incentives to make voluntary contributions.
Law Chi-kwong pointed out that the abolition of MPF is the most important, most complicated and most challenging issue in dealing with labor protection during his tenure. I believe many people are happy with this passing; and he also feels The community has a very high level of support for this approach. Even if there are parliamentarians who directly or indirectly represent the business sector, they all understand that the community has a demand for the abolition of MPF, and relevant bills must be implemented. It is understandable for them to express their concerns reasonably. . Law also believes that some of the concerns of the business community stem from misunderstandings regarding the bill, or even “misbelief in slander.” He emphasized that following the bill is passed, employers will still fire people before it takes effect, which will not benefit employers at all, and financially Or it’s all detrimental and unprofitable.
When asked if there are any labor issues that can be followed up, Luo Zhiguang pointed out that there have been voices in the past that “unemployment protection” will be introduced, but he believes that until the cancellation of MPF hedging is implemented, the issue of unemployment protection will be difficult to discuss, otherwise severance There will be disputes over the relationship between fees, long service payment and unemployment protection. After the MPF hedging dispute is resolved, there will be room for the society to re-discuss “unemployment protection”.
The government has set aside 33.2 billion to subsidize employers to pay severance pay and long-term service payments in the next 25 years. Law Chi-kwong said on the RTHK program “Millennium” that he believes that the government’s subsidy can generally help most employers make the transition. He also pointed out that severance pay only accounts for 0.35% of operating costs, which shows that the government has taken into account the adaptability of employers. Law Zhiguang said that the cancellation of MPF hedging is a very important milestone, because the ageing of Hong Kong’s population will become more serious in a few decades. If retirement protection is not properly handled now, then the public finances will be under great pressure, and the society will be together in the future. bear.
