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Hong Kong to advise on ways in which the labour and factory
inspectorates can be strengthened and the law more effectively
administered.
6. Trade Unions
With the exception of a small neutral and independent
segment, workers' unions are organised into two political
groups the Federation of Trade Unions (F.T.U.
communist
and Peking controlled) and the Trades Enion Council (T.U.C.
Kuomintang dominated). Although the number of unions
sympathetic to the T.U.C. far exceeds those adhering to the
F.T.U., both the declared and estimated paid up membership
figures of the T.U.C. are substantially lower.
The T.U.C.
is affiliated to the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions and the two international trade secretariats -
the International Transport Workers Federation (I.T.F.) and
the International Tailoring and Garment Workers Federation
(I.T.G.W.F.) - have been active in Hong Kong.
7。 Only occasionally do these two bodies (T.U.C. and F.T.U.)
and their constituent unions function as effective industrial
organisations and then never in concert since co-operation
between the two is out of the question. They refuse in fact
to sit at the same table. Divided politically and further
separated by differences in dialect, the number of unions has
grown beyond practical needs. All attempts to improve the
trade union structure have failed in spite of the Hong Kong
Government's efforts to promote trade union education, and the
efforts of some international trade union organisations.
3.
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