LABOUR RELATIONS IN HONG KONG
I. Introduction
1.
My terms of reference for this study were as follows:
"In collaboration with the University of Hong Kong
and with the assistance of the Hong Kong Government
Departments:
(a) to study and describe labour relations in
Hong Kong in the context of political, social
and economic factors and local attitudes in the
Colony;
(b) to define any impediments to the development of
effective trade unions, employers' organisations
and the practice of collective bargaining;
(c) to draw any conclusions; and
(d) to submit an interim report, if warranted."
2.
In pursuance of this commission, I paid a brief preliminary
visit to Hong Kong in June (en route to Australia) to discuss the
study's arrangement with the Acting Labour Commissioner and Departments
of the University of Hong Kong. The month of August was spent in
Hong Kong by myself with Professor Keith Hart of Yale University and
Dr. Patricia Fosh of the University of Bath. During this period we
were particularly assisted by the Labour Department and the Asian
Studies Centre of Hong Kong University; we conducted, together or
separately, some fifty interviews with representatives of business and employee organisations or of major individual firms and public agencies
apart from numerous visits to small establishments and informal
***
discussions with government officials or individual academics.
also held, with Dr. Fosh's guidance and organisation, a "pilot survey"
...!