TNAG-0090-FCO40-126-Social-welfare-working-conditions-in-Hong-Kong-1968 — Page 104

No. 39923

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1967

10 Cents.

CHINA MAIL DTD. 12.9.67.

Inquiry promised

124/€

10-HOUR DAY FOR

TEENAGE WORKERS

.

Teenage girls employed by a doll factory had worked 23 hours running, with two meal breaks, a factory official admitted yesterday.

And now the Labour Department has promised action following the disclosure of this by the CHINA MAIL.

The Department spokesman said it was illegal to have 15-year-old girls work for more than eight hours a day.

The Department has 22.

checking registered factories for offences against women and young people.

The story of the 23-hour shift came to light in a probe inspectors responsible for of the case of runaway teen- ager So Lai-wah, found working in a Wanchai night- club this week.

So's father said her long hours at work were one of the reasons she had left home.

So Lai-wah had worked in a doll factory for six days, includ- ing 11 overtime-hours, and was paid $31.35-about 40 cents per hour.

Young Lai-yin, another. 15-j year-old employee of the same factory, said she had found the 10-hour work day "very tiring" at first.

"But I, as well as the others, later got used to it," she said.

"The working hours in this company are not too bad com- pared with others," she said.

INSPECTION.

The factory in question is the Tong Chie Chinese Dolls and: Art Company in Kwong Cheong Street, Cheungshawan.

A Labour Department officer said today the factory would be visited by inspec- tors "in the next couple of days."

So Lai-wah, who is 15, work- ed there for six days before run- ning away.

Her hours were from 8 am to

7 pm.

But on May 5

"because an

the

order had to be finished"

staff had to stay on the job until"

7 am the next day.

When she left the factory she was paid $31.35.

THE LAW

The laws of Hongkong at pre- sent permit women and young people to work a total of 60 hours a week. People under 16 may only be employed 48 hours a week.

Maximum overtime per- mitted for women is six hours a week. People under 16 are not permitted to work overtime.

Figures released by the De- partment show;

• There were 10,635 re gistered factories in the Colony at the last count.

During the second quarter of this year, a total of 896 women, were involved in pro- secutions brought by the De- partment against factory mana- gements who worked the women more than the per- mitted 10 hours a day. Fines imposed totalled $5,680.

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