CONFIDENTIAL
all efforts to obtain employer agreement to an eight hour day for women and young persons proved unavailing:-
"By general agreement between all European employers and now an increasing number of Chinese employers engaged in more modern forms of business, such as the omnibus companies, the 48-hour week is recognised as standard, and any work over 8 hours for 6 days is treated as, ad paid for, at overtime rates. It is an aim of policy of the department to get the 48-hour week recognised as standard; it is in force for manual workers employed by the Governmenc."
13
14. The events of 1967 contributed to some relaxation of attitudes and on 1 December 1967 the first of five annual reductions in the 10 hour day for women and young persons came into effect; on 1 December 1971 the eight hour day became a reality for this class of worker. (There is no legislation governing the hours of work of adult males although some groups of male workers eg in spinning and weaving, have shared in the reduction of hours for women.)
15.
As part of the agreement to reduce hours of work, maximum overtime limits were raised by annual steps from a maximum of 100 hours until they now stand at 300 hours. It was the intention when the 1967 agreement was reached that the increased limit of overtime working for women and young persons should be progressively reluced to the original figure of 100 hours as soon as possible after the transitional period. (This was confirmed by Mr George Thomas in answer to a Question in the House of Commons on 24 January 1968.) It would be reasonable to accept that the present 300 hour limit should be maintained until 30 November 1972; but every effort should be made to bring into effect a reduction immediately thereafter. Few employers go beyond the 200 hour overtime figure and a reduction to a maximum of 200 hours could therefore be contemplated with little disruption with effect from 1 December 1972. There will inevitably be some employer opposition but if the Commissioner of Labour could give an assurance of a flexible attitude to special exemptions during, say, an interim period of three months, this should satisfy the great majority of Hong Kong employers. It would also be helpful if the existing statistical presentation of overtime worked could be revised to show the number of women and young persons who actually work overtime in the various bands eg 1-50 hours; 51-100 hours etc.
Night Work for Women
16. Arising from representations by employers about the shortage of industrial workers, the previous embargo on women Permission being employed at night was relaxed during 1970.
was subject to certain conditions to protect the health and welfare of the women concerned. This experimental concession was reviewed in 1971 and subsequently extended for another year with some change in conditions. In early December 1971 only 7 factories employing 607 women had taker advantage of these arrangements (all in the textile industry, although the
6
CONFIDENTIAL