After being forced to quit, Har Cheng* went to the Hong Kong food stall she had worked at for almost two decades, only to find out she had been replaced by imported labourers from mainland China.
Feeling angry and mistreated, Cheng, 67, who helped wash dishes, clean tables and sell beers at the traditional dai pai dong, said her loyalty over the years had all been “for nothing”.
“I thought I just had a few more years to work before retirement, and the stall had at least 28 workers ... How could I expect I would be the first to be targeted?” Cheng said.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
Over the past six months, Cheng and 200 other restaurant workers have reported being sacked and replaced by labourers who came to the city via an import scheme, according to the Eating Establishment Employees General Union.
Unionists and human rights advocacy group the Society for Community Organisation raised concerns about the impact of the scheme ahead of Labour Day on May 1, saying they had heard and received reports from local workers who were replaced by imported labourers.
To combat the city’s manpower shortage, the government in September 2023 allowed employers to bring in unlimited unskilled or low-skilled workers from the mainland for 26 new job types, including waiters, junior chefs, and hospitality and sales staff in catering.
So far, 54,278 workers have been allowed to come to the city. The catering sector accounted for most of the jobs, with around 8,900 waiters, 11,400 chefs and 2,700 dishwashers working in restaurant chains, street food stalls and other diners.
Cheng said the employer had cut her working hours from eight to four hours a day after a few imported labourers arrived at the stall in February. Normally, she would earn up to HK$16,000 (US$2,062) a month, but she could barely afford her rent with the reduced working hours.
She took it up to the employer but was asked to resign immediately if she did not accept the new arrangement. Cheng said she was forced to quit in March.
According to the union’s labour rights committee, the fired workers were mostly older and had flexible contracts.
It said that while imported labourers were required to sign contracts and received monthly salaries, local workers were forced to take hourly or daily wages to cater to the restaurant’s operational needs.
The union’s recent survey revealed that 83 per cent of 1,500 respondents, who said their employers had brought in foreign labour, knew of local colleagues fired after imported workers were hired.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said in 2023 that authorities would ensure city jobseekers were given priority in employment.
Hence, the scheme requires employers to carry out a four-week recruitment drive in the city before applications for importing workers are reviewed by the Labour Department. To avoid employers cutting costs by hiring cheap labourers, bosses also have to pay imported workers no less than the median monthly wage of the relevant job.
In response, the department reiterated that employers should not replace local workers with imported labour or they would be subject to “administrative sanction”, including refusal of their future applications or revocation of the granted quota for imported workers, if they violate the relevant rules.
Anthony Yau Yiu-shing, vice-chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions, said there was no existing legislation to regulate employers who sacked local workers after they hired imported labourers, as this action did not fall under “unreasonable or unlawful dismissal” under the Employment Ordinance.
Workers had found it difficult to prove their dismissal was the direct result of the new hires, as employers could always make an excuse and say they were not satisfied with their performance, Yau added.
“Local workers are kind of helpless in this situation,” he said.
In Cheng’s case, she said she was only compensated for statutory holidays and long service payment and received about HK$180,000. She said the employer denied forcing her to quit because of the new hires.
Yau urged the government to disclose the list of firms that imported labourers from the mainland, so that the union could monitor workers’ conditions.
His group also called for setting up a mechanism to pause the import labour scheme when necessary.
A 66-year-old kitchen assistant, surnamed Wong, also said that he had been replaced.
He said he started a new job in a restaurant chain in February, but had not been rostered to work since March, adding he was told by his supervisor that he would be transferred to a new store.
He later found out that two new imported labourers, who were younger than him and willing to multitask as cashiers, had joined the branch where he worked.
“Employers are just taking advantage of locals to fill up the position while waiting for imported workers to come,” he said.
*Name changed at interviewee’s request.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Call for regular review of Hong Kong labour scheme after ‘200 workers sacked’
- Hong Kong should have system to pause labour import scheme, workers’ union says
For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2025.
