11
16.
The
There are three main groupings of employee unions proper.
Left-wing unions affiliated to the Federation of Trade Unions, together
with unions classed as "friendly" to the F.T.U., claim some 270,000
members, or nearly three-quarters of all trade unionists. The "Right
wing" unions of the T.U.C. with their "friendly light" associates,
claim a nominal membership of nearly 40,000, or 1% of union membership.
of
The remaining 55,000 (or 15% claimed unionists are members of "neutral
union (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
about 90%; and the "Left-and-friendly" percentage of paid-up members
G
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. In 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
But there is little doubt about half that suggested by the Table above.
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.
17.
The third characteristic of union membership in Hong Kong
remains its fragmentation. Again, the number of unions, having been fairly stable in the 1950's at around 240, has risen sharply with the
rise in union membership:
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