Hong Kong
Submitted by amrc on Fri, 09/28/2007 - 05:55.
Standard Chartered makes redundancies amid record profits
The true face of so-called ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ revealed itself once again on 8 November when the Standard Chartered Bank informed 200 of its staff that they were no longer needed, despite the workers having contributed to record interim annual profits of US$746 million.
Local democratic organisations denounced the sackings. Legislator and Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions leader Lee Cheuk-yan criticised the bank saying it “set a bad example for other banks – when they earn a profit, they may still fire staff”.
The bank defended the dismissals on the grounds that competition was tight and demand for credit was low, almost as though the bank were making a loss. Executive director Peter Wong Tung-shun said, “We have no alternative but to take [these] measures.”
Permanent Secretary for Labour Matthew Cheung Kin-chung also made light of the workers’ plight saying he believed those affected would soon find new jobs. With unemployment still near record levels, it is difficult to understand Cheung’s complacency.
South China Morning Post, 10 November 2004
FEER sacks 80
Having made losses for the past six years, the Far Eastern Economic Review changes format from weekly to monthly publication.
During the change its current owner, Dow Jones, will fire 80 workers.
The magazine was founded in Hong Kong in 1946.
Dow Jones Web site, accessed 18 November 2004
Medics work up to 120 hours per week
300 trainee doctors, known as interns in Hong Kong, are working an average of well over 80 hours per week, some working as many as 120 hours.
This has made the news not because of government concern for the working conditions of the interns - new research shows that working very long hours endangers workers’ health.
In comparison the European Working Time Directive, legally enforceable in all EU member countries, ensures that doctors work a maximum of 58 hours per week – this figure will be reduced to 48 hours by 2009.
South China Morning Post, 21 November 2004