total wages by 110%. In other words, while labour's share of the proceeds from manufacturing industry fell (during a period of economic expansion), the rate of profit rose from about 20% to 35%. This astonishing increase in the rate of profit fr n already very high level can be attributed to a combination of the factors noted above, plus the introduction of many more young women workers into manu- facturing who, though usually working shorter hours (irrelevant to many industries), are paid much less than men.
The factory owners who benefited from this situation were not exactly given harsh treatment by the Government. The standard rate of tax on salaries and profits is a mere 15% (and the marginal rate of tax on salaries goes only to 30%), falling again for those with incomes (married with two children) above about £6,000. In addition, as Owen remarks, there is the advantage of "the easy-going manner in which tax collection is conducted."61
From Ta Kung Pao Thursday, November 23, 1972
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
SICK WORKER AND MANAGEMENT
Sir,
I am a metal work of the Kin Yip Plastic & Metal Factory in Kuntong. Recently I fell sick. I gave notice to the factory on June 11, but I was not allowed to leave my job. I again gave notice on June 20, and it was again rejected. As my health was really poor and I could not work, I then left the factory and took a rest at home.
I received a letter dated July 3 from the factory management and I was asked to return to the factory to settle the matter concerning my resigna- tion. When I went to the factory, the management asked me to pay them a month's wage as compensation on the ground that I gave them no one month's notice. They said: 'Even if you were sick, you should be sick in the factory; even if you were to die, you should die in the factory'.
On August 23, I received a letter from a lawyer on the instruction of the factory management. The letter said that according to the employment ordinance, since I left my post without giving notice to the factory one month in advance, I had to pay a month's wage as compensation either direct to the employer or through the lawyer's office within one week starting August 22. Otherwise I would be sued.
[I] went to the Labour Department for assistance. But the Labour De- partment said that both sides made some mistakes and asked me to pay a certain sum of money as compensation to settle the matter. But I replied: 'As I am in the right, I can give no compensation!'
As the life for us workers is so difficult, we will certainly cling to the job unless it is really impossible to do so. This time I could not go to work just because I was ill. Have the workers no right even to fall ill?
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Yuan Wai-chun
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