HOW ABOUT CONVENTION 24: SICKNESS INSURANCE IN INDUSTRY?
5. In Hong Kong employers are responsible for sickness payments
for limited periods under the Hong Kong Employment Ordinance.
The relevant amendment to the Ordinance entered into force on
1 July 1973.
These provisions do not fulfil the requirements of
Convention 24. But this is a very complicated convention which
has been ratified by only twenty-two members of the ILO and has
anyway been revised by Convention 130 concerning Medical Care and
Sickness Benefits (1969).
CONVENTION 32: PROTECTION AGAINST ACCIDENTS (DOCKERS
6. The possibility of applying this convention to Hong Kong is
being studied. The drafting of cargo handling safety regulations
has already been begun in Hong Kong.
CONVENTION 94: LABOUR CLAUSES IN PUBLIC CONTRACTS
7. This convention raises enforcement problems in Hong Kong,
owing to the great number of small contractors who take part in the
letting and sub-letting of contracts. But with the introduction
of the new Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations on 1 May 1974
important parts of the health safety and welfare provisions of
Article 3 of the Convention will be complied with; and the
situation is being further examined.
CONVENTION 98: RIGHT TO ORGANISE AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
8. The principles embodied in this Convention are accepted by
the Government in Hong Kong as aims of policy, and, wherever
practicable, are enforced by administrative action in the Labour
Department. The extent to which the Convention itself can be
applied is under active consideration in Hong Kong and London.
ELECTIONS TO LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
9. The circumstances of Hong Kong are special and make very
difficult any development towards an elected form of Government.
The situation is well understood locally.
10