25
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being more fully
and also of white-collar
54. The more general survey of the workforce appears to confirm much
of this picture, perhaps modified by its inclusion
representative of employees of more men,
workers (as well, no doubt, by the improvements of its content and
formulation which resulted from the first "pilot" experiment). Welfare
benefits closely rival pay as the top priority for improvement at the
workplace, and it is again significant that - although in this case at
least a fifth of the respondents must have been union members only
1% of them considered a stronger union organisation as of prime
importance.
G
55. Here, a considerable list emerged of general improvements in
social or employment conditions as preferable to higher income includ-
ing (in order, though the different strengths of preference were not
great) better educational provision and housing, improved medical services,
pensions and sickness benefits and more job security. As in the case of
our factory workers, however, only a minority of our interviewees
-
preferred more leisure to higher income suggesting the Government has
perhaps been on the wrong tack in giving priority to this over other
social improvements. But in this case, moreover, three-quarters of our
respondents were prepared actually to accept an income reduction for
particular improvements better housing, education, improved medical
services and pensions being their top priorities. Which contradicted a
common argument against social security schemes in Hong Kong, that
workers would not be prepared to contribute to them.
56. Again, preferences for routes to improvement remained strongly
collectivist, but in this (statistically) more representative group
Government legislation was seen as equally preferred with direct work-
place representation through employee (or consultative) committees,
two-thirds preferring one or the other. Only 13% again, a clearly
smaller number than the proportion of trade unionists saw much hope
from collective bargaining.
Ad
57. Attitudes to employers were, as might be expected if anything, a
little less sceptical than amongst the factory workers alone, but those
to trade unions were equally rather more favourable. More than three-
quarters knew what unions were (at least, in general terms), and nearly
half had some direct acquaintance with them through work or personal
contacts. Considerably more people were prepared to express definite
opinions as to the desirability of unions in general; and of these,
/two-thirds