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Trade Unions
Finance
work in Hong Kong are second only to those in Japan amongst
Asian countries.
32. With the exception of a small neutral and independent
segment, workers' unions are organised into two political
groups the Federation of Trade Unions (communist and
Feking controlled) and the Trade Union Council (KMT dominated).
The number of unions sympathetic to the TUC far exceeds those
adhering to the FTU, but both the declared and estimated paid
up membership figures of the TUC are in fact substantially
lower. Only occasionally do these two bodies and their
constituent unions function as effective industrial organisa-
tions and then never in concert since co-operation between them
is out of the question. 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.
PUBLIC FINANCE
33. Hong Kong receives virtually no financial aid from
Her Majesty's Government. Since the end of the last war,
with one or two exceptions, it has run a substantial surplus
on the recurrent budget, from which it has financed its own
development expenditure, which has been on a massive scale.
The housing programme in particular has been an outstanding
success, and has been carried through entirely from local
resources. Aid from the United Kingdom has been limited to
/grants
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