}
34
قيم
23011
HKA 431/393/4
The Hon
RGB Bridge JP
40
RE
Civil Service Branch Government Secretariat HONG KONG
HKK 4.30
8 November 1977
RECEIVED IN REOS AY NO. 51
10 NOV 1977
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
No 15
PA
PEGISTRY JAcdon Y kan
THE SHORTHAND AUDIO-TYPISTS' ASSOCIATION (STENOGRAPHERS' ASSOCIATION)
1. You will remember that we discussed this case during my visit to Hong Kong and that I also met Mrs Cheung and two other members of the Committee of her Association. You will also remember that after hearing the presentation of Mrs Cheung's case, I told them that, although I had listened, I did not have any locus to interfere other than if I felt that they had produced clear evidence of maladministration on the part of the Hong Kong Government or of
blatent injustice.
2. Since coming back I have thought a lot about the case and have taken expert advice here. My immediate concern is that when
Mrs Cheung and her colleagues arrive in the United Kingdom they will encounter influential people whose background in labour relations is coloured by the shift in opinion which has taken place during the last twenty years in Britain.
3. I am advised, for example, that within the framework of British staff/employer relations, the relative loss caused to the steno- graphers by the actual increase granted to female clerk officers and assistants would here be regarded by both parties as a real loss, i.e. an erosion in relativities is always accepted by both parties as an actual as well as a relative loss to the party who does not gain. There is a natural expectation of improvement by one group if another group within the same industry receives some increase in their terms of service.
4. I also discussed with expert opinion here the suggestion I made that the Hong Kong Government should consider appointing an independent arbitrator. I was advised that this would be a perfectly normal thing in British Government terms and that it is the sort of demand that the Hong Kong Government can expect more frequently in the future. In UK practice an independent arbitrator would be selected (if the Hong Kong Government so decides to make such an appointment ad hoc we could certainly help you with the selection of one) and that he should be assisted by two assessors, one from