From The Minister of State
AKK 430/1
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51
14 APR 1980
DESK OFFICER INDEX
PA
London SW1A 2AH
REGISTRY Action Taken
Peter Blaker w
An 1414
10 April 1980
Jean bot
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In my letter of 26 March I said that I would write again about the letters you have received from the Organising Committee of the Hong Kong Social Workers General Union.
The Hong Kong Social Workers General Union was formally registered on 8 February 1980 as a trade union under the Trade Unions Ordinance, with a declared membership of about 240 social workers (and ancillary staff) in voluntary agencies providing social welfare services in Hong Kong. Between October 1979 and February 1980, the Organising Committee of the Union sent four letters addressed to the Governor and the Chief Secretary, criticising the Hong Kong Government for not including voluntary sector staff in the Welfare Class Review of Social Welfare Department (SWD) during 1977 and 1978; demanding that the Government apply the new organisational structures and salary scales in SWD to all social workers in voluntary agencies subvented by the Government, with retrospective effect from 1 April 1979; and demanding representation on the Steering Committee to review organisational structures and salary scales in the voluntary sector.
In his replies to these petitions in January and March 1980, the Hong Kong Secretary for Social Services made the following points:
(a) Voluntary agencies are not organised on the same lines as SWD, nor do they perform the same functions. The public interest would not have been served in attempting a combined review of Government and voluntary
Robert Parry Esq MP House of Commons
/agency
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