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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1976
HE ADDED: +ON THE OTHER HAND, THE ONE REST DAY A WEEK INSTEAD OF FOUR A MONTH WOULD ATTRACT EVEN LESS ATTENTION, AS IT IS LOGICAL AND ONE WONDERS WHY IT WAS NOT ENACTED IN THE FIRST INSTANCE.+
+ IMPROVEMENTS IN SEVERANCE PAY AND SICKNESS BENEFITS HAVE HOWEVER BEEN MATTERS OF SPECULATION AND CONCERN TO LARGE AND SMALL FACTORIES IN THAT THE FIRST ONE IMMEDIATELY IMPOSES INCREASED CONTINGENT LIABILITY TO THE DETRIMENT OF THE FIRM'S BORROWING POWER, THUS INHIBIT EXPANSION AND EMPLOYMENT, AND THE SECOND TENDS TO ENCOURAGE OR ASSIST MALINGERING,+ MR. WU SAID.
HE SAID THERE WAS WIDE-SPREAD CONCERN THAT WE MIGHT BE IMPOSING TOO MANY BURDENS TOO SOON ON OUR INDUSTRY, AND THAT IT HAD BEEN SUGGESTED THAT IF ALL THESE HAD BEEN FORCED ON HONG KONG FOR SELFISH REASONS RATHER THAN FOR HUMANITARIAN CONSIDERATION, THEY MUST BE RESISTED.
MR. WU POINTED OUT THAT THE HONG KONG INDUSTRIAL IST WAS FACED WITH A HOST OF +SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES+ AND ADDED, +PARADOXICALLY, YET UNDERSTANDABLY, IT IS THE WORKING MEN AND GIRLS ON THE SHOP-FLOOR WHO WITH IMMEDIATE KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING SHARE THE MUTUAL APPRECIATION WITH MANAGEMENT TO TACKLE THE COMMON PROBLEMS AND DIFFICULTIES CONFRONTING THEM+.
THIS CO-OPERATIVE SPIRIT, HE WENT ON, BROUGHT HONG KONG THROUGH THE RECESSION AND ENABLED IT TO TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE SUBSEQUENT RECOVERY +WITH LABOUR BENEFITTING FROM A HEFTY INCREASE IN PAY UPWARDS OF 20-30 PER CENT, AND EVEN GREATER PERCENTAGE IN EARNING, IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS THROUGH THE SHEER NATURAL MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND+,
MR. WU POINTED OUT THAT THE WAGE RATES OF HONG KONG WERE NEXT ONLY TO THE HIGHLY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES OF NORTH AMERICA, WESTERN EUROPE AND JAPAN, COMPARABLE TO THAT OF THE U.K., AND MUCH BETTER THAN THOSE OF TAIWAN AND SOUTH KOREA.
HE STRESSED, HOWEVER, THAT HONG KONG COULD LEAST AFFORD TO IGNORE THE LOW WAGES AND BARGAINS OF OTHER COUNTRIES AT ITS OWN PERIL, +AND IT WAS ONLY THROUGH THE QUICK RESPONSE AND FLEXIBILITY OF OUR MANUFACTURERS THAT WE WERE ABLE TO TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE RECOVERY OF OUR MARKETS OVERSEAS LAST YEAR THUS REVERSING THE ECONOMIC RECESSION+.
TURNING TO THE ICAC, MR. WU SAID IT WAS REASSURING TO HEAR THAT BASICALLY THERE WAS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY IN ITS PRIORITIES AND THAT, SPECIFICALLY, IT SHOULD BE CONCERNED WITH THE PUBLIC RATHER THAN THE PRIVATE SECTOR.
/+WHILST
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