CONFIDENTIAL
Hong
Kong's Proposed Amending Legisla- tion
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7. It does not provide for the prohibition of strikes and
therefore contains no provisions on the lines of Section 3 of the
Hong Kong legislation which follows the terms of the repealed UK
1927 Trade Disputes Act.
8. The model legislation has not been adopted by Hong Kong, although it has been the Hong Kong Government's stated intention since 1960
to review the position with regard to essential services legislation in the light of the recommendations of the former Colonial Labour Advisory Committee.
9. The amending legislation submitted by Hong Kong is concerned with Section 3, and no amendments are proposed to Section 5. It would empower the Governor-in-Council, by notice in the Gazette, to declare a strike or lock-out illegal, thereby removing the
uncertainty noted in paragraph 5 above. It would also make it an offence to take part in an illegal strike or lock-out (only incitement to take part is an offence under existing legislation see paragraph 3(c) above).
10. This amending legislation is unsatisfactory in that :
(a) no consideration would appear to have been given to
incorporating any of the features of the model legislation. Hong Kong should be asked to include amendments allowing for the collective withdrawal of labour by a trade union
and providing for the posting of notices by employers (paragraph 6(i) and (iii) above). There does not appear to be any strong argument for requiring the period ot notice laid down in the model legislation (15 days) to be uniformly applied throughout dependent territories and I consider that we need not ask Hong Kong to
reconsider its provisions in this respect.
(b)
No machinery is provided for the settlement of trade disputes in essential services, and it is important that such machinery should be established for these
services if the right to strike is to be severely curtailed. This point, and the related issue of whether the Section 3 powers to prohibit strikes should be retained, is discussed in paragraphs 12-16 below.
/ 11.