TOT
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industries which subsequently collapsed; again there has been no time to
examine the back history of labour relations and disputes
J
or even
their present detailed state in several industries to the extent that
one might wish, to fully understand the present state of affairs. Nor,
again, would I care at this stage to comment on the total effect of all the
detailed labour legislation which has been passed in recent years or is in
prospect, or on the adequacy of the present Labour Department's staff
resources to enforce and apply it beyond the remarks, first, that
whatever their historical effects I do not think the laws bearing on
(taking into account their prospective mendentment in labour relations are now a major obstacle to the latters
Hong Kong; and second, that to the best of my observation, present
regulations on labour conditions and terms of employment are on the whole
as scrupulously administered as lies in the Labour Department's power.
(I would certainly say that the enforcement of the regulations relating
to labour conditions is considerably more effective than in many
developing countries with superficially more elaborate protective
legislation).
12.
This note therefore concentrates on three questions:
1) Why, despite frequent attempts by international union
agencies and the current expressed sympathy of the adminis-
tration towards collective bargaining and more highly
organised industrial relations, should trade unionism
remain so weak in Hong Kong, and collective bargaining be
so little developed?
2) Why should there apparently be little pressure from
employees themselves for improvement in social provisions
of the kind normal in industrial societies and considerable
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uncertainty as to their support for some recent legal pro-
visions, such as that to introduce a week's paid holiday?
....!