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HKK13/1L Folic (4/4)
After referring to the legislative programme agreed in p rinciple in January 1968, he said that the FCO had been consulted about the arrangements for the employment of women at night and he took the trade union officials through the conditions which had been laid down (basing himself on your Saving Despatch No. 275 of 4 March).
Finally, Lord Shepherd told the trade union officials in strict confidence that it had been agreed we should send a team of experts to the Colony to review the Labour and Factory Inspectorates; and he concluded by saying that he thought it would be useful if we could look at the way the scheme for the employment of women at night was working after, say, three months.
I must also tell you that three Members of Parliament (Ernest Thornton, John Rankin and Robert Howarth) called on Lord Shepherd on 19 March to talk about night work for women.
Their approach was much the same as that of the trade union officials and Lord Shepherd repeated the arguments he had used at the earlier meeting.
May I now take this opportunity to refer to the Paper prepared by your Special Branch on "Recruitment Campaigns by Communist Unions" (8) in C/13/415 dated 27 February. The concluding sentence in that Paper was that - "The most favourable opposition to the spread of communist influence in labour, as the communists themselves are well aware, remains full employment, the establish- ment of strong and effective neutral unions, improved working conditions and imaginative management/staff relations"
I do not know if that assessment reflects the views of the Hong Kong Government as a whole, but I have already been in this department long enough to appreciate the difficulties the Hong Kong Government has to face in trying to strengthen the non- communist trade unions. I believe you touched on this problem with Leslie Monson when you were here at Easter; and I gather that during his recent visit Michael Wilford had a long and useful talk with the Commissioner of Labour on labour matters generally and labour legislation in particular. It would be most helpful to us, however, if you could let us have your views on the passage from the Special Branch Report to which I have referred and also on the earlier statement in paragraph 17 of that Report that "The communist unions are often the only effective channel for workers to submit grievances to managements since workers have no-one else to whom they can turn"
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This letter is already too long, but I think you will wish to know as soon as possible that Messrs. Greenhalgh and Gibson called on George Foggon last week to discuss a visit to Hong Kong by Mr. Gibson. I understand that Mr. Gibson wishes to explore in greater depth than was possible during his visit last year the general organisation of the Textile Workers' Union, the spread of its membership and the effectiveness of its bargaining status, with a view to determining how the organisation can be made more effective.
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