42.
XIII.
TRADE BOARDS.
77
251. The rade Board Ordinance No.15 of 1940 has never been operated. It has however been used to persuade employers in some industries to recognise the principle of freedom of association and to settle terms and conditions of employment with their workers in a more democratic way than had been their custom.
252.
The Ordinance in its present form seems to require mendment. A Trade Board is instituted because wages in a particular industry are considered to be unduly low or mchinery for the settlement of terms and conditions of employment in the industry concerned is unsatisfactory or non-existent. It presupposes that there is inadequate org: nisa- tion of the employers or the workers and in such circumstances any Trade Board set up under the Ordinance cannot be regarded as fully representative of the employers or the workers engaged in the industry. All that His Excellency can do on the advice of the Commissioner of Labour is to appoint representa- tives of employers and workers who re as represent live S circumstances permit.
253.
It would therefore seem desirable. that the urdinance should provide for & Trade Board which is set up for the purpose of recommending wage rates which will be applied with the force of law, first of all to make a preliminary recommendation which should be given wide publicity in the press, so that any interested party, who is not directly represented on the Board, but has an interest in the eventual eward, can make represent:tions to the Board.
254. A period of about three weeks should be allowed for the receipt of such representations. After they have been received they should be considered by the Board before it makes its final recommendation to His xcellency in Council.
255. This would be a more democratic and fairer way of dealing with the matter and would ensure that every interested party had an opportunity of putting forward views and making proposels for consideration instead of the recommendation to His Excellency being made exclusively on conclusions reached by & Board nominated by His Excellency.
256.
Consideration might also usefully be given to permitting the Board to make recommenârtions over a wider field under the general herding of "Conditions of Employment".
257. In redrafting the Ordinance it would seem desirable to differentiate more cle: rly between Board set up for the purpose of deciding whether wage rates in a particular industry should be prescribed and a Board set up to consider and make recommendations as to the wage rates which should operate with the force of law, in an industry.
258. On the general question of the operation of Traue boards in Hong Kong there is no doubt that considerable difficulty would be experienced by the Government in obtaining the services of suitable independent chairman. The use of senior Civil Servants or Judges for this purpose has inany disadvantages.
259. It should also be stressed that most industries in Hong Kong vary from the most primitive to the most modern and any fixed minimum wage rate, operated with the force of law, would cert: inly have the effect of putting a large number of small employers out of business or driving them underground. Such an award may also have the undesirable effect of reducing