CONFIDENTIAL
3
I should like to close this letter with the point that the trade union situation in the civil service here is quite complex. We have more than 140 unions, mostly quite small, but of which some 30 play an active part in the civil service union scene. Groups of unions coalesce temporarily for some particular purpose and then go their separate ways when the committees feel there is no more mileage to be gained from combined action.
It is not uncommon for a union committee to be publicly stating its opposition to the Government on some issue at the same time as its Chairman is assuring me (truthfully) of his cooperation. Similarly, two unions may make public expressions of working together when in fact they are opposed to each other on the particular issue and have little intention of actually doing anything together. None of this is peculiar to Hong Kong, but it is particularly marked here, and union relationships and attitudes are often not quite what they appear to be.
Harry Batchelor is aware of all this up to a point, but I suspect his visits to Hong Kong are too infrequent for him to know the union scene in depth. The situation as regards Public Service International in Hong Kong is a case in point. The 11 civil service unions affiliated to PSI are all happy to put on a show of togetherness for Harry Batchelor's visits, and he of course is professional enough to look for the common ground between them. In fact these 11 unions fall into three distinct groups. The two main groups are competing against each other for influence in the civil service as a whole and tend to adopt opposite postures on many issues: the third group are concerned primarily with not being swallowed up by either of the main groups and are concerned to stay up on the fence.
I concluded my letter of 13 February to you with the comment that industrial relations in the civil service were better than for many a year. I am thankful that this continues to be so, but storm clouds can gather quickly with little warning and one must rever be complacent for fear of having to eat one's words. Having said that, we keep in close touch with most of the key people on the union scene and the dialogue is improving both in extent and quality.
ever
Youn
Markmi
(Martin Rowlands)
Secretary for the Civil Service
CONFIDENTIAL