CONFIDENT IAL
Background
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The request for a meeting
15. The meeting has been arranged at the request of Mr. Gibson of
the National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers, who wrote to the Minister of State on 28 January saying inter alia that "My General
President, Mr. Pendergast and I would like to have the opportunity of
meeting yourself and your advisors, with our international secretary,
Mr. Jack Greenhalgh, to discuss our experiences in the Far East, with
particular reference to the industrial position in Hong Kong.
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16. In addition to Messrs. Gibson, Pendergast and Greenhalgh, Mr. Macgougan (National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers) and Mr. Milhench (United Textile Factory Workers Association) have been
invited to attend. They wrote to Lord Shepherd on 27 February and 4 March respectively protesting against the recent decision to permit women to work at night. These letters followed letters by Mr. Greenhalgh and Mr. Gibson of 23 and 24 February also protesting against the decision.
The UK unions connections with Hong Kong
17.
The UK unions represented by Messrs. Gibson, Macgougan and Milhench are affiliated to the International Textile and Garment Workers'
Federation of Textile and Garment Workers' represented by Mr. Greenhalgh.
Mr. LEONG FOOK KEE represents the Federation in Hong Kong. He has done what he can to strengthen the local non-communist textile unions
but he has not been very successful.
...
18. The question of trade union organisation in Hong Kong was the subject of correspondence between Mr. Gibson, Mr. Crossland and Lord Shepherd towards the end of last year. Mr. Gibson suggested that the communists might take control of the trade unions as a whole and urged that "help and assistance be forwarded to organised 'free' trade unions." In reply, Lord Shepherd explained that there could be no question of the Hong Kong Government giving any form of discriminatory assistance to non-communist unions or of enacting discriminatory legislation. All unions were subject to the same laws regarding registration and behaviour, which were firmly, but justly, enforced by the Registrar of Trade Unions.
/The Attitude
CONFIDENTIAL