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Medical Clinics Ordinance and held meetings to study its implications.
There are 45 independent unions, a number of which continued to make improvements in their internal administration and in the services offered to their members. During the year, a large number of trade unions put forward demands for wage increases, and strike action occurred in several instances following failure to reach agreement with employers. Both the FTU and the TUC supported the wage demands.
A successful series of classes organized by the Labour Depart- ment for officers of the trade union movement was held during the year. The Fourth Trade Union Leadership Course in June was attended by 21 principal officers from 19 unions. Other activities included four series of classes on labour legislation, two courses on trade union administration, three courses on simple trade union accounting, lectures on safety in industry, a series of advanced classes in trade union accounting for officers who are directly con- cerned with the financial administration of trade unions and a course for women officers of trade unions.
The Labour Department prepared and issued three publications for use in its trade union educational programme, one of which entitled Dictionary of Trade Union Terms, was published in English and Chinese at the request of a number of trade union leaders interested in understanding union terms used in various parts of the world. The other two, entitled Elections in Trade Unions and Trade Unions and Education, were published in Chinese in the series How To Make Your Union Effective.
Labour disputes. Although demands for wage increases were widespread, strike action took place in a comparatively small number of trades and industries. These included stevedoring, ship painting, cargo-tallying, shipbreaking, house painting, junk build- ing, manufacture of umbrellas and glassware, tailoring, wool spin- ning, cotton spinning and the manufacture of carpets and rugs. Wage demands in the utility companies, road transport undertakings and dairy farming were settled by direct negotiation between man- agements and trade unions. In some cases, negotiations lasted for over five months before settlements were reached. There were altogether 19 strikes, and the number of man-days lost in disputes up to the end of the year was estimated at 87,199. During the year