HWB 18/2
Curtis Green,
14 &
250ctal
October, 1967.
I am very sorry that it has taken so long to give you our reply about the complaints of Oriental Domestics. (Your letter of 31 July to Herbert Bowden.)
Mr. Burn's general complaint is that the contract preferred by the Hong Kong Commissioner of Labour is over favourable to the worker, and he adduces legal advice to the effect that a number of its clauses are ultra vires. The complaint arises largely from a misunderstanding. The contract is not one upon which the Commissioner insists but a Model for which he thinks the worker would be well advised to press.
The main difficulty arises over the matter of passages. Mr. Burn complains that an unscrupulous worker can get himself to this country at an employer's expense and then walk out to a better paid position with someone else. AS Ray Gunter informed you in his letter of 23 December the Ministry of Labour have considered this matter, and believe that the number of such cases is very low. A foreign worker who wishes to change his job must obtain prior permission from the Ministry and though the Ministry have no power to compel a man to remain in any particular job, unreasonable requests for a move are followed up. number of such cases may be even less now as a result of the period of notice for terminating the contract being increased from one month to three. (Mr. Burn has already been informed of this,)
The
A more fundamental difficulty over passages arises from the contractual obligation on an employer to repatriate a worker. This clause is in the contract as a result of Article 13 of the International Labour Office Convention to
MRS. LENA JEGER, MP.
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