Labour Organisation
During 1949 applications from various organisations for registration as trade unions continued to pour in and 89 labour unions, 52 employers' associations and four mixed unions of employers and workers were registered under the Trade Unions and Trade Disputes Ordinance, 1948. There was one voluntary cancellation of registration during the year, the union concerned having failed to retain the support of its members. The grand total of trade unions registered at the end of 1949 was 259-masters' associations 69, mixed unions 4, workers' unions 186 (of which 15 have a membership of over 1,000)—with a total declared member- ship of 146,761.
From a survey made of the trade union position during the year, it was found that many of the officials of the different unions were not aware of the various clauses of their rules. In an endeavour to correct this tendency, many meetings were held with officials to explain the necessity of making application to the Registrar of Trade Unions if any alteration to rules was desired.
Under the Trade Unions and Trade Disputes Ordinance every registered union is required to submit an annual return of membership, officials, funds, etc. Over 100 unions failed to submit the return and of those submitted the majority were unsatisfactory. An explanatory leaflet with a model balance sheet and a general statement of income and expenditure, was drawn up and circulated to all unions, while meetings were held with representatives of the two trade union councils who agreed to help their member bodies to formulate satisfactory annual returns. As a result of these various measures, returns were eventually fairly complete.
During the year the Illegal Strikes
the Illegal Strikes and Lock-outs Ordinance 1949 was passed. This ordinance, which is mainly designed to protect the general public from strikes and lock- outs having an object other than the furtherance of a trade dispute within the industry in which the disputants are engaged, created a considerable stir among the labour unions. Every effort was made to correct misapprehensions, and meetings were held with representative bodies to explain the reasons and objects of the new ordinance.
Trade union education has been carried out on a small scale during the year, by the medium of films and lectures. A scheme is now afoot to introduce a planned system of trade union classes, and provision has been made in the estimates for this purpose.
Joint consultative machinery has not yet been accepted in local industrial relations, except in one instance, the Naval
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