8
16. There are three main groupings of employee unions proper. The
Left-wing unions affiliated to the Federation of Trade Unions, together
with unions classed as "friendly" to the FTU, claim some 270,000 members,
or nearly three-quarters of all trade unionists. The "Right-wing"
unions of the TUC with their "friendly Right" associates, claim a
nominal membership of nearly 40,000, or 11% of union membership. The
remaining 55,000 (or 15%) of claimed unionists are members of "neutral
unions" (mostly in government or public sector occupations). All three
union groups claimed membership increases in the last year for which
data is available (1974/75), but in actual paid-up membership the
neutral group rose fastest by 13%. The paid-up membership of the
Right-wing group actually declined. The "neutral" group has also the
highest percentage of paid-up members - about 90%; and the "Left-and-
friendly" group the lowest, at about 75%. However, the proportion of
paid-up members in "Right-and-friendly" unions was in the last year
declining quite fast: it fell from 82% in 1974 to 77% at end-1975.
general, of course, the decline of the "paid-up membership proportion"
of Hong Kong unions means that their real growth in density of
organisation is only about half that suggested by the Table above. But
there is little doubt as to the continued dominance of the group
controlled or influenced by Peking, the relative decline of the
Right-wing group, and the marked growth of the minority "neutral"
cluster.
In
17.
The third characteristic of union membership in Hong Kong remains
its fragmentation. Again, the number of unions, having been fairly
stable in the 1960's at around 240, has risen sharply with the rise in
union membership:
Year ending
No. of registered employee associations
1969
257
1970
272
1971
276
1972
280
1973
283
1974
293
1975
302
The average size of trade union, though it has increased since 1970,
remains very small at 1200 in nominal terms and less than 1000 in
-
/paid-up