BRIEF FOR MR. ANTHONY ROYLE'S
MEETING WITH A DELEGATION LED BY MR. CLIVE JENKINS.
GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SCIENTIFIC. TECHNICAL AND MANAGERIAL STAFFS (ASTMS) ABOUT
TRADE UNION RECOGNITION IN HONG KONG
Summary
43
Points to be made
1.
The trade union movement in Hong Kong has made little
progress in terms of membership and influence.
Total
2.
declared membership is only about 190,000 of whom not
more than 125,000, or less than 10 per cent of the Colony's
total workforce of about 1.5 million are paid-up members.
With this minority representation unions have been unable
to win formal recognition as bargaining agents, though some
managements have entered into working arrangements which
amount to tacit recognition. With the exception of some
20 per cent of the total trade union membership which is
netural and independent, Trade Unions in Hong Kong are
split into two camps the Federation of Free Trade Unions (communist) and the Trade Union Council (Kuomintang).
The communist unions have a membership of about 75,000,
while the Kuomintang unions membership is about 25,000,
the same as the neutral unions. Neither the FTU nor the
TUC is prepared to co-operate with each other. (Para.4)
The Hong Kong Government cannot compel workers to join
unions or employers to grant recognition:
but it remains
open to unions to seek recognition by industrial action.
/A new