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EMPLOYMENT
stoppages, with a loss of 310 man-hours in one of the stoppages and a total of 3 083 working days in the other 10. This compared with 2 530 days lost in 11 stoppages in 1983. The service also dealt with 17 560 labour problems. These were mostly grievances involving individual claims for wages in lieu of notice, severance pay, wages in arrears, annual leave pay and holiday pay.
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During the year, the Promotion Unit of the Labour Relations Service - responsible for the promotion of harmonious labour-management relations - made 452 advisory visits to employers and conducted a series of promotional activities. These included 37 training courses on the Employment Ordinance and four seminars on labour relations. A total of 1 892 management personnel, union officials and workers' representatives took part. In addition, four mini-exhibitions were organised on a district basis and attracted a total of 20 000 people.
In February, the Wage Security Fund Unit was established under the Labour Relations Service to undertake all preparatory work relating to the setting up of the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund. The Working Group on Problems Experienced by Workers of Companies in Receivership recommended that a statutory fund, financed mainly by a levy on business registration certificates, should be set up to make payments of arrears of wages up to the preferential limits under the Companies and Bankruptcy Ordinances to workers whose employer is presumed insolvent and unable to pay these wages.
The Labour Tribunal, which is part of the Judiciary, provides a quick, inexpensive and informal method of adjudicating certain types of dispute between employees and employers with a minimum of formality. The tribunal deals with claims of right, wherever possible in the language of the parties. It complements the Labour Relations Service and does not supersede the conciliation services of the Labour Department. During 1984, the tribunal heard 3 560 cases involving employees as claimants, and a further 328 cases in which the claims were initiated by employers. More than $15 million was awarded by presiding officers. Of the cases dealt with by the tribunal, 93.98 per cent were referred by the Labour Relations Service after unsuccessful conciliation attempts.
Finding Employment
The Labour Department provides a free placement service for job-seekers. The Local Employment Service helps employers to recruit suitable staff and job-seekers to secure employment. It operates from 15 offices which are linked by a facsimile system for the efficient transmission of information on employment opportunities. The Central Recruit- ment Unit, an extension of the Local Employment Service, acts as the central agency for all government departments in the recruitment of non-pensionable staff such as artisans, drivers and labourers. During the year, 40 918 people were successfully placed in employ- ment including 2 949 who found jobs in the Civil Service.
The Special Register gives free employment assistance to graduates of local and overseas universities and job-seekers possessing post-secondary or professional qualifications. During the year, 406 people found employment through this register.
The Selective Placement Service was started in 1980 to provide specialised placement assistance free of charge to physically handicapped people seeking open employment. With effect from the second half of 1984, the service was extended to cater also for the mentally retarded and former mental patients. The Employment Service of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and other voluntary agencies remain responsible for the placement needs of socially maladjusted job-seekers. During the year, 704 disabled people found work through the Selective Placement Service.