Latest news with #LabourUnions
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Indonesia bans age limits in hiring in bid for fairer job market
Indonesia is urging companies to remove age limits in job ads, reflecting growing regulatory scrutiny of discriminatory labour practices in Southeast Asia's largest economy. The Ministry of Manpower issued a circular signed on May 28 directing both domestic and foreign employers to eliminate age restrictions in recruitment efforts, including those targeting people with disabilities. Exceptions are allowed only when age is clearly relevant to the role – and even then, the criteria must not unfairly disadvantage applicants. 'These restrictions have long contributed to legitimising unemployment and poverty,' Deputy Minister of Manpower Immanuel Ebenezer said in a phone interview on Saturday. 'Employers want comfort, we will deliver that. We will eliminate thuggery and burdensome regulations. But we also ask for cooperation – to help our fellow citizens.' Labour unions welcomed the move as a step towards fairer hiring, but also called for regulations to enforce the directive. Employer groups, however, voiced concerns about practical implementation, warning that companies may now face an influx of applicants. Indonesia currently has more than 7 million unemployed people, with older jobseekers often facing barriers to re-entry. Jobseekers consult officers from the department of manpower during a job fair in Jakarta on May 22. Photo: AFP The circular is part of broader labour policy changes under President Prabowo Subianto. The government has also banned the practice of employers withholding workers' original diplomas and personal documents – a tactic critics say restricts labour mobility. These measures build on labour policy changes initiated under the previous administration, including the 2023 revision of Indonesia's job creation law. That revision met strong opposition from labour groups due to its perceived pro-business leanings.
South China Morning Post
22-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong labour group calls for review of imported worker policy amid job losses
A local labour union has urged the Hong Kong government to review its imported labour policy after a survey revealed that more than half of catering workers lost their jobs following the Lunar New Year, while the percentage of employers hiring non-local workers trebled. The survey, jointly conducted by the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions and Federation of Hong Kong Food & Beverage Industries Trade Union between January and April this year, gathered responses from 950 workers in local food and catering services, including traditional Chinese restaurants, cha chaan tengs, noodle bars, snack bars, and Western restaurants. It found that 52.5 per cent of the restaurant workers reported losing their jobs after the Lunar New Year, which fell on January 29 this year. Furthermore, the percentage of respondents who stated their restaurants had hired imported labour surged threefold, from 24 per cent before the festival to 72 per cent afterwards. More than 95 per cent of respondents believed that the influx of non-local workers had negatively impacted their livelihoods, leading to situations where they were either replaced, unemployed, or only able to secure part-time positions. 'We advise the government to review the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme and consider reimplementing restrictions on the 26 job types. For those jobs and industries that had imported labour, the government should establish quotas,' said Jenny Tam Kam-lin, the vice-chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions. She also recommended that the government monitor and penalise employers who dismissed local employees after receiving approval to hire non-local workers, or who exclusively hired local part-time workers instead of offering full-time positions. The Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme was introduced in September 2023. It aims to address the city's manpower shortage by allowing employers to bring in an unlimited number of unskilled or low-skilled workers from mainland China for 26 new job types, including waiters, junior chefs, and hospitality and sales staff in catering.
RNZ News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Christopher Luxon won't say if Ministry for Women consulted on pay equity changes rushed into law
Christopher Luxon. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi The prime minister is defending not holding a select committee process into pay equity legislation that passed last week under urgency, sparking immediate protest . The law is retrospective, cancelling 33 current claims affecting 150,000 female workers which would have to be restarted. Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden last week said the changes would raise the threshold for proving work had been historically undervalued, and would also save the Crown money. Christopher Luxon told Morning Report on Monday claimants had already waited years and they did not want to draw things out. "We have moved quickly to make sure that we can actually get one system in place as quickly as possible and to give people clarity about going forward and to focus this act back on its core intention, which is to eliminate sex-based discrimination. But I've seen a lot of reporting over the weekend to say that we are getting rid of equal pay, we're getting rid of pay parity, we're getting rid of collective bargaining… that's wrong." Luxon said they wanted one robust system, and said "the opposition, the unions, and frankly the media have been actually scaremongering and a bit disingenuous" about what effect it would have. There was no regulatory impact statement, no select committee nor public consultation done on the changes, which were passed into law the same day they were introduced. The sections for reports and advice on the bill on the Parliament website are blank . Questioned on what advice had been sought, the prime minister was vague. "What we've done is we've just said, look, we want to make this clearer and clearer, less complex, less complicated, which Labour got completely out of whack." Asked what evidence had been collected prior to the bill's introduction that it would work, Luxon said they "moved quickly so that people who have actually been waiting a long time to submit claims can do so without being stalled out". Asked if he had advice from either the Ministry for Women or the Productivity Commission, Luxon would only say Cabinet had received "advice from a number of officials", but would not specify exactly who they were or what departments they represented. Asked whether grandfathering in existing claims or running a select committee process were considered, Luxon again did not answer. "Well, we chose this route, as I said, to make sure that we've got one system and to make sure that people aren't strung out unnecessarily. They've been waiting years to be able to submit claims. They can do that under the new laws. Yes, we are tightening up the comparators. Yes, we're tidying up to make sure we've got specific claims, not broad claims." Labour and the Greens criticised the speed of the bill's passing into law, saying it was at odds with Cabinet's signing off of a proposal for ACT's Regulatory Standards Bill , which sets out new checks and balances for what constitutes good lawmaking. Protests over two days were held at the end of last week against the pay equity changes. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
