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1972/73, of which almost 30,000 were made at night. During the same period, 5,870 prosecutions were brought against employers, resulting in fines totalling HK$1,666,026 (about £140,000). It is important to belance these positive achievements against some of the perhaps critical comments which follow.
4.
The Labour Adviser's recommendations arising from his recent visit have for the main part been accepted and we should be well satisfied if the following legislation is enacted as planned before the end of the year.
5.
(a)
The Industrial Relations Bill (to provide a statutory basis for conciliation and arbitration) (b) Amendment to Labour Ordinance to provide
penalties for acts of anti-union discrimination (designed to make possible the application of International Labour Convention No. 98).
(c) Severance Pay Bill (to provide for redundancy
payments in addition to payment for normal period of notice).
(a) Cargo Handling Regulations (to apply so far
International Labour Conventions Nos. 32 and 130).
A number of other important recommendations have been accepted for consideration locally including the proposed creation of a specialist post in Industrial Health on the Labour Department establishment; the handling of workmen's compensation disputes by the Labour Tribunal; and (with one exception) the list of future
priorities in the field of labour legislation contained in paragraph 62 of Mr Foggon's report.
6.
There remain four important areas where further consultation and discussion will be necessary between us and the Hong Kong Government. These are:
The
(a) Hours of Work and Overtime for Women and Young Persons (paragraphs 22-26 of the report). reply of the Hong Kong Government does not refer to the temporary nature of the concessions on overtime made in 1967 and the undertaking given in Parliament on 24 January 1968 by Mr George Thomas. The reference in the Hong Kong reply to the UK paper "Equal Opportunities for Men and
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/Women"