TNAG-0087-FCO40-123-Conditions-of-employment-for-Hong-Kong-Chinese-working-in-th-1969 — Page 49

Commissioner of Labour

is bound by statute to insist

utory requirements,

upon

Where inclusion! t

wencrements when

The bound

of

#tatuta

on

contains a clause which makes provision for the

termination of the contract by a worker without

commitment to repay any part of the expenses incurred

by the employer in regard to his passage to the U.K.

The Hong Kong Government require the inclusion in the

contract of a provision along these lines and in doing

not only

to miswil

matter very ima

(See Arhele 20

of Convention No So -Recruiting of Indigenous weakers

We almi that the 1.4.0. Convention does.

so they are acting within powers conferred by the but are complying with the F.LO Convention covering this Hong Kong legislation, It is not, I think you will agrende alge stupan

unreasonable to expect an employer who recruits alien

so far away as Hong Kong

workers from abroad to bear the sole responsibility for

the recruitment expenses that he incurs.

5.

The Hong Kong Government do not deny that

the requirement is unfavourable to an employer in

circumstances where an unscrupulous worker walks out

on his contract after having obtained a passage to the

U.K. at his employer's expense; there are, however,

many other quite legitimate circumstances in which a

worker might reasonably wish to terminate a contract

which he has signed without full knowledge of working

conditions in this country. The Hong Kong Government

have gone some way towards making it more difficult

for the unscrupulous worker to terminate employment

by extending the period of notice recommended in their

month

They have

model contract from one to three months. It has not,

A

able

however, been possible to devise a suitable alternative

provision which would safeguard the employer against

abuses while, at the same time, protecting the interests

The

of Chinese workers proceeding abroad for employment;

*

aim

it is this latter purpose which is, of course, the

essential purpose

prime-object of the legislation.

6.

The second aspect of the passages problem is

the employer's liability to bear (at least part of) the

கூ).

repatriation expenses of the alien worker whom he has

This fie bad-

at least in part; in the event of the latter terminating the

brought to this country, even if the latter has

continct excite

prematurely

/terminated

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

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