(5)
disparaging the significance of the arrival of the ICFTU's Delegation in Asia; (as shown in their local papers) the troubles of our workers are providing the Communist agitators an excellent chance for attem- pting infiltration. Thus in addition to starvation, this TUC in pro- tection of our poor discharged workers, has one more invader out against--
-the Communist.
to hold
The closure of this Fung Kung Rubber Shoes Factory and the complete discharge of all its workers, as popularly interpreted by some authoritative commercial circles and the public itself, were intentionally conducted for some favourable business purposes, though less demand for rubber shoes would be one of the contributing factors. We are in no position to come to any conclusion of this kind. Never- theless, we are sure of the following causes:
(3) The sound and steady growth of the organisation of the Rubber Shoes Workers' Association affiliated to this TUC had aroused both dissatisfaction and jealousy with the employer who had been for thirty years avariciously exploiting his workers of their rightful earnings by the practice of meager wages. The employer's desire of oppressing the workers was promptly culminated by the visit of the ICFTU's Delegation to his Factory. It was extremely to the indignation of the employer that the workers' answering to questions of the ICFTU's Delegates barely but unwittingly belied the shameless falsely-varnished statement of the employer's spokesman in respect to the average wages of of the workers there.
(2) To the best of our knowledge, before the announcement of this complete discharge, it was wickedly and shrewdly contrived that a suspension for two months of the factory's operation would be uti- lized to let famish and impecuniosity humiliate and dampen the co- operative spirit and the combined effort of the workers. Afterwards, the resumption of work for any worker would be left to the disposal of the employer and would necessitate the signing of a prerequisite "Service Contract" which agreed to still lower wages from, (30% less than the last) and more working hours for the employer. Workers' representatives of the Rubber Shoes Workers' Association, like Leung Shing, Ng Ting and so on, would be doubtlessly discharged for ever just because they had been elected representatives by their fellow workers.
(3) There have been also another cause. Since the Communist elements, namely Han Chirk Wah and the other ten or so, had much less influence than our ›emocratic workers inside the Factory, they excep- tionally chose to sido up with the employer ostensibly. It must have been partly through their telltale and instigation that the General Manager, Fung Tse Yi and the Superintendent, Kou Kei Ming, decided to enforce this measures of "purge"
曲
Dear international friends and comrades, with the constant co-operation and advices from our international trade unionists and