CONFIDENTIAL
6
16.
Communist unions were the most active in 1977, having participated behind the scenes in 41 of the 65 trade disputes with union involvement. Nevertheless, they continue to adopt a policy of moderation and restraint in handling these disputes. The call for more accent on welfare work (para. 14 above) is likely to mean that the communist unions would come more into the open and would be even more active than before, but their tactics would lean more towards "cocktail party diplomacy" than to confrontation. Trade disputes would probably be used by them in a limited way as morale- boosting and muscle flexing exercises. We believe that in the short term at least, the communist unions will continue to abide by the line that stable labour relations in Hong Kong are essential to China's development and modernisation programmes.
17.
It is worthy of note that in March 1978 six senior officials of local communist unions were named delegates to China's Fifth National People's Congress in Peking "representing Hong Kong", together with ten other local residents outside the trade union movement. (The six are from the Hong Kong Seamen's Union, the Hong Kong and Kowloon Fitters and Turners' Union, the Motor Transport Workers Union, the Hong Kong and Kowloon Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing Trade Workers General Union, the Hong Kong Union of Chinese Workers in Western Style Employment, and the Hong Kong and Kowloon Flower and Plant Workers General Union). Of the six union delegates, four are the most senior office bearers of the HKFTU. (For comparison, only two representatives from Hong Kong, one of them the HKFTU Chairman, were appointed to the praesidium of the Fourth National People's Congress). However, it is too early to assess what effect this increased recognition of the HKFTU will have on the labour situation in Hong Kong.
Other Unions
18.
On
Unions affiliated to the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council have been posturing rather than taking any effective action, except in one or two instances. Their influence continues to decline. the other hand the "independent" unions, mainly in the Civil Service, have been active in representing the interest of their members.
/General Remark ...
CONFIDENTIA!