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be expected to subsist
If you
On this basis we can I think say that the
rubber footwear industry in Hong Kong is
not sweated. In this connection I enclose
for your information a table showing wage
rates in the industry for the year ended
31/3/49 (conditions have not changed a great
deal since then) and also a Parliamentary
Question and Answer of last November.
compare the figures given in the Parliamentary
Answer, which are more or less average figures
applying to industry generally, with those
for the rubber footwear industry you will
see that though wages tend to be lower in the
seins rubber footwear industry there is no violent
discrepancy. A further point which is I think
relevant, particularly in connection with that
part of the definition of a sweated industry
relating to whether a person can reasonably'
be expected to subsist on the wages, is apparent Moreover
If the minimum estimated monthly wages for
unskilled female piece-rate workers are compared
with the minimum daily wages for these workers
it
W
A be seen
it is elcar from this that some at least of the
workers do not work the full standard month and this
would suggest that the full monthly wages would
certainly be sufficient for subsistence.
As to your question (b), although there
are about 150 workers' unions in Hong Kong we
have no record of any operating in the rubber
footwear industry; this is borne out by the
comments in the remarks column of the enclosed
table.
On your question (c), I think the comparison
/is