Page
The first was that apparently you assumed that the proposed legislation to bring into force the new regulations would be enacted immediately following the submission of the memorandum to Executive Council. The second was you clearly thought that I was talking about garment workers in particular, whereas I was in fact talking about the hours of work for women and young persons in iddustry generally.
Now what of the proposed legislation? You have argued, with some justification, that it is too limited in approach, since it would not appear to be extended to garment workers. I would not dissent from this. But although the statutory hours of work may not have changed since 1959 a substantial number of industrial undertakings have, in practice, progressively given over to an 8 hour working day for women and young persons. As you know, 100 % of female workers in cotton spinning and over 70 % in cotton weaving are working an 8 hour day now. There is also the point that once the new legislation comes into force it will have the effect of establishing statutory backing for an 8 hour day for women and young persons. This will have the effect of high-lighting for all to see those sections of industry in Hong Kong in which the 8 hour day has not yet been introduced.
You will wish to know the proposed time-table. It is that the Labour Advisory Board will consider on 11 May the Executive Council's proposals for the reduction of hours. The matter will be referred to the Board in the form of a memorandum in both English and Chinese explaining the proposals and the consequential legislation in laymens terms. This is necessary since four of the workers' representatives on the Board are Chinese and have only a minimal knowledge of English." Drafting of the proposed amending regulations has been put in
/hand
| +
7