Enclosure No. 1a.
C.S.O. 3262/27.
A BILL
[No. 11-21.6.27.—1.
INTITULED
An Ordinance to declare and amend the law relating to illegal strikes and lock-outs, to amend the law relating to intimidation and to breaches of contracts of service in certain special cases, to promote the independence of trade unions established within the Colony, and for purposes connected with the afore- said purposes.
BE it enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Illegal Strikes Short title. and Lock-outs Ordinance, 1927.
2. In this Ordinance,
""
"Strike (a)
means the cessation of work by a body of persons employed acting in combination, or a concerted refusal, or a refusal under a common understanding, of any number of persons who are or have been employed, to continue to work or to accept employment.
(b) "Trade union" means any combination of per- sons employed, whether a temporary or a perma- nent combination, and whether a branch associa- tion or not, which has among its objects the regulation of the relations between employers and employed.
Interpreta- tion.
3.-(1) It is hereby declared that any strike is illegal Illegal if it has any object other than or in addition to the further- strikes and
lock-outs. ance of a trade dispute within the trade or industry in which the strikers are engaged and is a strike designed or calculated to coerce the Government either directly or by inflicting hardship upon the community or any substantial portion of the community; and it is further declared that it is illegal to commence, or to continue, or to apply any sums in furtherance or support of, any such illegal strike.
(2) It is hereby declared that any lock-out is illegal if it has any object other than or in addition to the further- ance of a trade dispute within the trade or industry in which the employers locking-out are engaged and is a lock-out designed or calculated to coerce the Government either directly or by inflicting hardship upon the commu- nity; and it is further declared that it is illegal to com- mence, or to continue, or to apply any suins in furtherance or support of, any such illegal lock-out.
(3) For the purposes of sub-section (1), a trade dispute shall not be deemed to be within a trade or industry unless it is a dispute between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen, in that trade or industry, which is connected with the employment or non-employment or the terms of the employment, or with the conditions of labour, of persons in that trade or industry.
(4) Without prejudice to the generality of the expres- sion "trade or industry", workmen shall be deemed to be within the same trade or industry if their wages or conditions of employment are determined in accordance with the conclusions of the same joint industrial council, conciliation board, or other similar body, or in accordance with agreements made with the same employer or group of employers.
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