CUTTING FROM THE CHINA MAIL DTD. 13.9.67.
124/6/2
COMMENT
The labour scandal
"ESTERDAY'S
tion are hundreds,
Yes the 15-year-old girl ably thousands, ofron-
who left her job if it could be called that- after working a 23-hour shift reads like some- thing out of the 19th century.
She worked 711⁄2 hours in six days and was paid $32.35. Her hourly wage
45 cents.
If it was possible to say this was an isolated case then one might dismiss the incident as the work of one greedy factory owner.
It is not an isolated incident!
The Labour Department with a force of 22 in- spectors to try and pre- vent this type of scandal must police 10,635 regis- tered factories. The task is impossible.
But to make a complete mockery out of the situa-
registered factories where labour conditions might even be worse.
Hongkong industry has made great strides in the factories employing hun- dreds, but appalling condi-
tions and rates of pay are still prevalent
in the smaller factories in which a good part of our labour force are employed.
Existing labour laws may be near Victorian but even these properly en- forced would be a step in improving conditions. High on the list of reforms for the Labour Depart- ment should be mammoth increase in its staff. Many of Hongkong's employers are obviously not going to 'improve the lot of the worker without Govern- ment prodding.
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