51
Moreover, much of the vertical structure of pay differentials in Hong
Kong appears historical rather than incentive, and is (apart from any conse
quent economic inefficiency) particularly likely to create discontent
amongst the expanding and young higher-educated groups; I rather imagine,
for instance, that the Polytechnic students who carried out much of our
interview work for us would, if it came to the point, make a much more
effective agitational force than the anarchistic Parisians
1968 acquaintance.
1
of my
This comment is not irrelevant to my terms of reference
because (again) much of the recent growth in ostensible labour organisation
and relationships in Hong Kong has been in the "white-collar" field.
67.
The final question is: what to do? On this, I naturally have
hesitations: arising from an awareness, on the one hand, of the dangers of
applying standard prescriptions (still more, of applying prescriptions
derived from old-established industrial societies) to societies which are
only superficially similar in their level of development; and from on the
other hand) the specific political and cultural complexities of the socio-
economy of Hong Kong.
68.6
At the moment, I would confine myself to two broad clusters of
observations, more-or-less tentative and (to return to my starting point)
more-or-less "interim". One is that one cannot limit
relevant comment to
industrial relations in the narrow sense. Unlike the stereotype with which
we were first presented, the Hong Kong worker has wider preoccupations.
17.59.
Thus, and emphatically, more progress is required on the social
front. Our survey of employee attitudes suggests there would be very wide
support for two measures: