SECRET
11.
Hours of work for women and young children.
There is a split between the employers and workers
representatives on this issue, but the recent events
are likely to have put the employers in a more
receptive frame £ of mind. The Governor has
suggested that a possible method of reducing the hours
of work would be by legislation to empower the
Commissioner of Labour (by regulation):-
(i) to introduce at once a 48 hour week for
individual industries where this is t
already the universal practice;
(ii) to introduce at once in industries where the
48 hour week is the common but not the
universal practice, a 48 hour week with
permissive overtime, about 12 hours per week
for individual factories;
(iii) to work out a phased programme for the
reduction of the standard working week for all
other industries, with the object of bringing
them all ultimately to 48 hours.
12. The Governor also considers that now is the
moment to announce that the Hong Kong Government, with
the advice and assistance of H.M.G., intends to proceed
with a review and expaяxtix expansion of its labour
legislation, on which considerable preliminary work
has already been done (there are about 30 pieces of
legislation at various xxx stages of preparation).
He would welcome expert assistance from H.M.G. in
carrying out this review and considers that an expert
SECRET
would