4
KKO
Employment
FURTHER advances were made in 1975 in legislation to improve the safety, health, welfare and training of workers, and labour relations generally. They bring to 106 the number of items of legislation concerning the Labour and Mines Department passed since 1967.
The new items included safety measures in cargo handling (on the landward side) and the use and mounting of abrasive wheels. Two sets of regulations were made under the Clean Air Ordinance to permit the authority to approve plans for chimneys to be delegated to the air pollution control officer of the Labour Department.
Workers' wages were further protected by an amendment to the Employment Ordinance which confers an unequivocal right to liquidated damages in respect of wages in lieu of notice.
The Labour Relations Ordinance, which aims at improving labour-management relations, was enacted. It gives the government the right to intervene in trade disputes so that efforts can be made to defuse potentially damaging situations arising out of such disputes.
Two ordinances enabling the establishment of training authorities for the clothing industry and the construction industry were enacted. The training authorities are empowered to collect training levies and to provide for facilities for the training of people employed in their respective industries.
Both the cost of living index and the index of nominal average daily wages (excluding fringe benefits) have risen by seven per cent since the base period, July 1973 to June 1974. The index of real average daily wages therefore remained at 100, the same as the base index.
In December 1975 a total of 678,857 workers were employed in 31,034 establish- ments in the manufacturing sector. Some 351,880-the largest section of the labour force---were engaged in weaving, spinning, knitting, and the manufacture of garments and made-up textile goods. The plastics industry and the electrical industry were the next two largest employers. Details of the distribution of manufacturing establish- ments and of people employed in them are given in Appendices 13 and 14.
The bulk of the industrial population is concentrated in the urban areas of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and New Kowloon, but there is increasing industrial develop- ment in the New Territories, particularly in the new towns of Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung. In December 1975 a total of 149,687 workers were recorded in 5,244 manu- facturing establishments in the New Territories. Although most workers are engaged in modern manufacturing processes, and to a small extent in mining and quarrying, traditional village industries still provide employment.