0003160 G.F. 316
SECRET
Original a HWA 10/4
SAVINGRAM
Copy No.
IOA
46
From:
The Governor, Hong Kong.
Repeated:
P. A. to C. in C.F.E.
21
To:
The Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs
Peking
26
Tamsui
11
10.:
947
Manila
5
Date:
11 May, 1967
C. in C.F.E.
M75
Ref.:
TS.2/57 III
1.
L.I.C. MONTHLY INTERNAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT
APRIL, 1967
In the field of industrial relations in the Colony, the atmosphere has remained consistently uneasy during the month. Disputes involving left-wing unions have, in some cases, acquired an increasingly political slant in that the left-wing has attempted to remove right-wing influence in the firms involved, and, not unnaturally, both factions of the press have, according to their political alignment, given considerable prominence to the cause of the protagonists concerned. The continuing publicity given in local left-wing circles to the communist victory over the Macau Government remains an important influence in the militant attitude being adopted by left-wing unions. (L. I.C. Interal Intelligence Report for March 1967, paragraph 1 refers.) However this month, this attitude itself has been subject to some fluctuation of intensity, a reflection of the increased freedom allowed to the "masses as a result of local propaganda based on the Cultural Revolution in China. Certainly the Federation of Trade Unions (P.T. U.) and its affiliated Unions do not appear to be exercising such rigid control as in the past, though it is pertinent to note that the disputes were largely confined to the parties concerned and have received little organised support from unions representing other trades.
مش
#7
The most significant of the new suries of disputes which arose during the month involved two taxi firns owned by the same local Chinese family, one in Hong Kong and one in Kowloon. In Hong Kong the dismissal of a left-wing taxi driver on the 28 March for inefficiency inspired the communist controlled Motor Transport Workers' General Union (M.T. U.) (claimed membership, 3,901; paid up me rbership, 1,130) to demand his reinstatement, the dismissal of the supervisor involved, himself the vice-chairman of the very much smaller right-wing Motor Car Drivers' General Union (M.C.D.G.U.) (claimed membership, 310; paid up me "bership, 310), and at the same time took the opportunity to demand better conditions of service. The management agreed to all the demands except the dismissal of the supervisor which became the crux of the dispute. By the middle of the month as a result of a "go slow" on the part of the left-wing drivers and the reduced takings therefrom, the management decided to close down the business, giving priority to the sale of the taxis to those drivers who had not taken part in the "go slow" and who wished to purchase them. The M.T.U. not unnaturally denounced this move as a trick and placed "peaceful" pickets outside the firm's garages.
3.
The press of both factions, which had been watching developments avidly, became involved when two right-wing press photographers were prevailed upon to hand over to the left-wing drivers films which they had taken of the pickets. A statement
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