XN000022-1974-10-16 — Page 61

-17

Wednesday, October 16, 1974

in the hands of workers and trades unions on the one hand and

But Government too has a significant of employers on the other. responsibility to ensure that reasonable minimum standards

Much has been done in recent years to secure a steady improvement in working conditions and terms of employment through an extensive programme of labour legislation.

are applied.

This

is a continuous process and today I will touch on some of the

main areas of recent achievement and indicate what your Government proposes for the coming year as well as in the longer term.

First, good progress has been made in the continuing

This was originally so

review of the Employment Ordinance. framed that further parts could be added progressively to build up a comprehensive code of employment, and a number of major amendments have been made over the past two years. Holidays with pay and sickness allowance have been extended to all employees covered by the Ordinance; entitlement to sick

simplified; leave has been increased and the qualifications for it controls have been introduced over employment agencies to ensure that workers, whether to be employed in Hong Kong or overseas, are not exploited; and workers have been afforded statutory protection as members of trades unions in relation to their employers. Finally, severance payments have been made a statutory entitlement for redundant workers. measure alone represents a significant advance in social legislation, The rates of severance pay provided are lower than those paid by most larger employers, but it was necessary that they should be set at a level which could be afforded by those many smaller employers who formerly gave little or no severance pay,

:

This

and

/it is particularly