LABOUR POLICY
7
بھر
5. coppie
Tam
**
I would like to turn now to labour policy.
Yiu-Chung called for a comprehensive
four
Mr.
long-term
policy and he spoke of areas which he felt need ed to
in such a policy be covered, These were the status of trade unions and
the right to engage
to engage in collective bargaining; a review
of the Employment Ordinance; industrial safety; and
provision for retirement.
بهار
These are all
all important subjects, but they are
not closely related, except in that they all affect
worker s and, in Hong Kong, but not necessarily
elsewhere, are dealt with by a
aand
single
government
department. To try to link them up in one comprehensive
plan would in my view delay progress,
not enhance it.
Progress on labour legislation has to take into account
the conflicting interests of employers and employees and
requires sometimes difficult negotiations with both
sides. In prasti
In prastice one cannot negotiate a comprehensive
policy One must negotiate item by item and this we
have been doing very successfully now for many years.
We have enacted no less than 274 items of labour
legislation in the
will
in the last 20 years. This is not just a
Anyone
is
Theses of us, who have lived here during this
figure.
period have
八
人
seen working conditions completely
transformed. We now
now comply in whole or in part with 48
ILO Conventions, a figure which compares favourably with