OCCUPATIONS, WAGES AND LABOUR ORGANIZATION
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of any importance which has no trade union. The woodwork trade has 14 unions catering for its workers, and the building construction industry 11. Undoubtedly, in some industries amalgamation would be to the advantage of the workers, but political and other differences make this difficult.
Important educational work, undertaken by the Trade. Union Section of the Labour Department, has undoubtedly led to an improvement in the working of some trade unions. During the year 3 series of classes were held, attended by members of 21 unions.
Joint Consultation machinery was established towards the end of 1955 within the Hong Kong Tramways Ltd. after successful elections had been held by the workers themselves to choose representatives of the various sections of the staff. Industrial relations within this Company have long been bedevilled by disputes, which have taken many forms, between the management and the left-wing Tramway Workers' Union, from which the management withdrew recognition in 1951. In response to an invitation from the management, 53% of the staff voted for their own representa- tives to meet the management regularly to discuss conditions of service and to ventilate staff grievances. The election was boycotted by both left- and right-wing unions, and although a number of ballot papers were returned blank, the fact that over half the total staff submitted valid votes is an encourag- ing sign of a genuine desire for employer-employee relation- ships to be kept free from political influences.
Labour Disputes and Stoppages. There was a total of 14 strikes and lock-outs during 1955, resulting in the loss of 33,567 man-days. This figure compares unfavourably with the 2,235 man-days lost in 1954, but is well below the post- war average of 145,666.
The principal occasions of strikes were wage disputes and dismissals due to redundancy or discipline. Only three of the strikes were successful. The others failed completely, the employees in some cases losing their jobs when fresh workers were engaged. There were four lock-outs by employers, three of which arose out of strikes; all these lock-outs were successful.
At the beginning of the year it appeared that the F.T.U. had decided to change to some extent the emphasis of its