Proposal for Legislation on lines of U.K. "Shops Act" - City District Officers' Preliminary Assessment of Public Reactions
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General Interest
This subject was first mentioned in a letter to the Editor of the South China Morning Post published on 3rd January, 1969. The writer called for the introduction of a Shops Act "to create a better life for shop workers in Hong Kong." The letter subsequently attracted the response of two other readers, both Europeans, who immediately pledged their support for the proposal. An editorial in the Sunday Post-Herald on 5th January made a sweeping opening statement that "it had been recognized for years that a great majority of employees in Hong Kong shops had been exploited by employers, and that they worked excessively long hours for ridiculously low wages and suffered abysmal working conditions". It urged the Government to introduce the necessary legislation to give shop employees some protection. The S.C.M.P. followed this up by publishing on 7th January the results of their interviews with three local people, who were in favour of the Government doing something to help restrict the long working hours employees of Chinese-owned business firms in the Colony were allegedly subjected to. On the same day, a candidate for the coming Urban Council election voiced his opinion in the Chinese press that Government should set up a committee to study the extant legislation of some other countries, and to conduct comprehensive surveys in the local community as a first step towards introducing a Shops Act in Hong Kong. Some days later, the Chinese section of Radio Hong Kong arranged a panel discussion on 19th January, among people from the press and commercial and industrial circles. The Labour Department declined to provide a participant for the Chinese programme but did do so for a Talking Point programme on the English service. The consensus was that Government should introduce legislation to protect shop employees. Meanwhile in Kowloon a meeting was held under the auspices of the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee to discuss the same subject. Those invited to the meeting included clergy, social workers, members of the Industrial Committee, people connected with commercial and industrial relations, a student and a lawyer. The meeting felt that it would be irresponsible to press Government for a Shops Ordinance before indicating there was a demand for it, and decided that they should obtain information (by conducting a survey) to show, firstly, whether they had a case, and secondly, if they had one, to put it before Government.
In the meantime, reaction in the Chinese press on the proposal for legislation was sluggish. There were letters to the editors published in a few evening newspapers (e.g. Sing Tao Man Pao and New Life Evening Post), but they were few and far between. In almost all the major newspapers, editorial support was conspicuously lacking. The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and the various commercial associations remained reticent, although the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council, through its Secretary-General, did strongly advocate some legislation "for the benefit of this category of employees which numbered about 500,000." This figure is thought to be grossly exaggerated.
Surveys of Shops
Unsolicited initial comments on the subject by shop owners and fokis with whom Liaison staff came into contact during their normal course of work were rather sketchy and inconclusive. This was partly because the majority of them had no idea what a Shops Act was supposed to provide for, and partly because they had seldom thought of the necessity for (or the desirability of) some legislation
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