HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1954
was 297, of which 223 were workers' unions, 70 were employers' associations and 4 were mixed unions of both employers and workers. Only 5 new unions were registered during the year, 3 of workers and 2 of employers, but the registration of 6 workers' unions was cancelled and one workers' union and one employers' association were dissolved. It is possible that the maxi- mum number of registrations has been reached and there may well be a further decrease in future years. A large number of workers' unions are now operating with few members and scanty funds and some may soon cease to exist. Sectional differences, personal antago- nisms and wide divergences of political views continue to divide unions of the same trade and there have been no moves towards amalgamation during the year, although amalgamation might well benefit many of the smaller unions.
Political considerations continue to form the biggest obstacle to the development of effective trade unionism in the Colony. The trade union movement is split into two main factions, one supporting the Central People's Government and the other the Chinese Nationalist Government. There are a number of nominally inde- pendent unions which are not officially affiliated to either of the two main groups but few of these keep entirely clear of one faction or the other.
The Trades Union Council (T.U.C.), which sup- ports the Chinese Nationalist Government in Formosa, still commands the support of the largest number of unions but its member unions are weak, ineffective and do little for their worker members. Some have been guilty of abuses in the operation of their rules and in the handling of their accounts and several have been
28