TNAG-0088-FCO40-124-Social-welfare-working-conditions-in-Hong-Kong-1967 — Page 56

5.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

1.

2.

3.

on time-rates or piece-rates. The majority of workers

are, however, paid by piece-rates.

In accordance with the Factories and Industrial Undertakings

Regulations, no woman or young person can work more than ten

hours a day and six days a week. Although there is no legis-

lation limiting the number of working hours or days of male workers, normally speaking, male workers in this industry work 10 hours a day. Under the Industrial Employment (Holidays with Pay and Sickness Allowance) Ordinance, Cap. 333, industrial

workers are, subject to certain qualifications, entitled to 6 holidays a year. In the clothing industry, workers normally get, apart from the statutory rest days given to women workers, 6 to 13 holidays a year of which 6 are with pay.

There is special provision in the Factories and Industrial

Undertakings Regulations to allow each factory to employ women

on overtime work for not more than 100 hours or 25 weeks a

year. For rates of premium please see answer under V (1). Shift-work is not common in this industry. So far, only

3 cotton knitting, 2 wool-knitting, and 3 garments and shirts,

factories are known to be operating shifts. These employ respectively 60 women and 50 men, 244 women and 214 men, and 673 women and 394 men. To date, no problems arising from shift-work arrangements have come to the notice of the Labour

Department.

1. There are no special provisions relating to lighting and

ventilation in clothing factories, but the normal provisions

of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance and

Regulations apply. Conditions in the factories vary but,

generally speaking, they are good. There are a few exceptions

where the factories are accommodated in old buildings or where

the establishment has grown to the stage where it needs to expand to larger premises. In the latter case, the circums- tances are usually temporary.

Details of employers' associations and trade unions in the clothing industry are at Table K.

February, 1967.

LABOUR DEPARTMENT.