OCCUPATIONS, WAGES AND LABOUR ORGANIZATION
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nominally independent, which subscribe to the policy and par- ticipate in the activities of the F.T.U. During the year the F.T.U. continued its policy of providing welfare benefits not only to members of affiliated unions, but also to all workers willing to accept them.
The Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council, which supports the Nationalist regime in Taiwan, has seventy affiliated unions, with a further sixty two unions participating in its activities. The majority of the members of these unions are employed in building construction, Chinese restaurants, tea-houses, and in catering and miscellaneous services. The T.U.C. remains affiliated to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, but does not play an active part within that body. The new headquarters building of the T.U.C., called Labour House, was opened on 1st May.
Independent unions are few and mostly small in membership, and several of them are undecided as to where their interests should lie. Some of them, however, have made continuing efforts to improve their internal administration and the services offered by them to their members. The Teachers' Association was repre- sented in 1958 at international conferences in Ceylon and Rome organized by the World Confederation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession.
During the year the Labour Department under its trade union education programme arranged, in co-operation with the Technical College, three series of lectures on simple accounting for the benefit of local trade unions. Each series consisted of eight talks of an hour and a half each and some 85 persons from 38 trade unions attended the lectures. The Trade Union Section, as well as other sections of the Labour Department, gave lectures to pupils of a number of Anglo-Chinese secondary schools and middle schools. Towards the end of the year a trade union requested the Depart- ment to arrange a series of lectures on certain basic aspects of trade unionism, and these were commenced in December.
Joint Consultation. Joint consultation is not widely practised in the Colony but there is evidence that appreciation of its value is slowly growing. Many employers who understand and appreciate its purpose are, however, reluctant to experiment in this field