BRIEF
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12.
HOURS OF WORK IN HONG KONG
(Note for the Secretary of States Meeting with Mr. Ernest Thornton, M.P., and Mr. J. Greenhalgh, General Secretary of the I.T.G.W.F. at 2.p.m. on Monday, 19 December, with Mr. Foggon, Labour Adviser, and Mr. Carter, Hong Kong Department, present.
In Hong Kong (as in Britain) there are no restrictions in law
on the hours worked by men. Under the existing Factories Regulations
introduced in 1959 the hours of work of women and young persons are
restricted to ten hours per day (eight hours per day for young persons
aged 14 - 16) with a compulsory rest day each week. Night work is
prohibited; over-time is permitted only to the extent of 100 hours
per annum for each concern.
2.
When these regulations were introduced in 1959 the Hong Kong
Government announced them as a first step towards improving minimum
standards of employment and bringing hours of work into line with the
internationally accepted standard of a 48 hour week. Since that time,
however, despite constant pressure from this office, no progress has been
made towards a further statutory reduction of hours. This lack of
progress has been due to a number of factors inherent in the local
circumstances of Hong Kong. Local employers (with some exceptions)
have remained resolutely opposed to any reduction mainly because they
fear for their competitiveness in export markets on which they are almost
wholly dependent and in which they are competing with other Asian
territories where wages are considerably lower than in Hong Kong.
There is also a distinct lack of interest on the part of the workers
themselves in shorter hours. This may, in part, be the result of a
fear that it will also mean lower wages, but it also reflects the inherent
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social attitudes of the Chinese which places great stress on being
/gainfully