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EMPLOYMENT
The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions supports the Chinese People's Republic. Most of the members of its 65 affiliated unions are concentrated in shipyards, textile-mills and public utili- ties, or are seafarers. A further 16 unions, nominally independent, are friendly with the federation and participate in its activities. The other trade union federation, the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council, sympathizes with the policies of the Taiwan authori- ties. Most of the members of its 63 affiliated unions and of the 29 nominally independent unions, which generally support the Trades Union Council, are employed in the catering and building trades. The Trades Union Council is affiliated to the International Con- federation of Free Trade Unions. There are 70 independent unions, some of which continued to make improvements in their internal administration and in the services offered to their members.
Taking disputes over wage demands into account, the Concilia- tion Section of the Labour Department dealt with 3,357 disputes, of which 476 involved large wage claims. This compared with 403 last year. There were a further 2,881 minor disputes compared with 2,192 in the previous year. Altogether there were 12 strikes, and the number of man-days lost in all disputes was 22,525 com- pared with 24,355 in 1966.
During the first few months of the year there were several trade disputes where settlement was unusually difficult because of the intrusion of political considerations and antipathies. The most notable were the disputes in a group of four associated taxicab companies, the Green Island Cement Company Limited and the Hong Kong Artificial Flower Works. The taxicab dispute ended with the management winding up the companies, retrenching all drivers, with severance pay, and selling the vehicles. Some were sold to the retrenched drivers. At the Green Island Cement Works dissident workers so disrupted operations with political demon- strations that the company decided to close down the works on May 5 and discharged all staff with full terminal benefits. The works were re-opened with newly engaged labour on June 24.
In the case of the Hong Kong Artificial Flower Works, a concern with two factories, one in Kennedy Town and another in San Po Kong, settlement of the dispute by direct talks between management and workers was not possible and the management decided to close