ILMEDIATE HONG KONG TO COMMONWEALTH, OFFICE
༩།
TELEGRAM NUMBER•1781
CONFIDENTIAL
(136)YOUR
2368
RECENSO IN
29 No 70
29 NOVEMBER 1967
139
TOP COP1/6
LAST
REF.
136
YOUR TELEGRAM 2386 HOURS OF WORK AND WAGES.
:
18
HW
(A) AT THE TIME THAT THE 1958 REGULATIONS WERE MADE EFFECTIVE,
NOT ONLY REDUCING WORKING HOURS TO TEN BUT ALSO INTRODUCING
COMPULSORY WEEKLY REST DAY, OVER TWO-THIRDS OF WOMEN IN EMPLOYMENT
HAD ALREADY BEEN WORKING NOT MORE, THAN TEN HOURS DAILY SEMICOLON
ALL SPINNING
G AND MANY WEAVING COTTON MILLS ERE COMPLETING THEIR
CHANGEOVER TO THREE EIGHT-HOUR SHIFTS SEMICOLON THE GARMENT
INDUSTRY HAPPENED FORTUITOUSLY TO EXPAND AT THIS TIME AT
UNPRECEDENTED RATE CAUSING A SHORTAGE OF LABOUR IN THE INDUSTRY
AND FORCING UP WAGES TO AN EXTENT THAT MASKED ANY EFFECT OF
SHORTER HOURS. SOME MINOR INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES DID OCCUR OVER
WAGE RATES AND WORKING HOURS, BUT NO GENERAL DIFFICULTY WAS MET
IN ENFORCING THE REGULATIONS. TRANSITIONAL POWERS TO PERMIT
PRE-1958 CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE DURING THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF
1959 WERE EXERCI ED IN RELATIVELY FEW CASES.
(B) THE PRESENT REDUCTION MAY HAVE SOME COMPLEX EFFECTS. THE
NUMBER OF REGISTERED AND RECORDED FACTORIES HAS RISEN FROM ABOUT
4,900 THEN TO OVER 11,000. ALL COTTON-SPINNING AND THREE-QUARTERS
OF COTTON-WEAVING MILLS NOW WORK EIGHT HOUR SHIFTS SEMICOLON
BUT EXPANSION IN WORK FORCE SINCE 1958 HAS MAINLY BEEN IN EW
FACTORIES OPERATING MAXIMUM PERMITTED HOURS, THUS MOST OTHER
FACTORIES EMPLOYING WOMEN CINCLUDING OVER 95% OF GARMENTS, PLASTICS,
KNITWEAR AND RUBBER OF FOOTWEAR INDUSTRIES) GENERALLY OPERATE TEN
HOURS A DAY. HENCE ONLY ABOUT A QUARTER OF WOMEN NOW EMPLOYED
ARE WORKING LESS THAN TEN HOURS DAILY. MOST WORKERS IN INDUSTRIES
NAMED ARE PAID ON PIECE RATES. UNLESS RATES ARE INCREASED OR
PRODUCTIVITY RISES EARNINGS MUST FALL. OBVIOUSLY WORKERS WILL
PRESS FOR INCREASED PIECE ATES. OVERTIME WORKED HAS ALSO
BEEN ON DOWNWARD TREND FROM LAST QUARTER 1966 TO THIRD QUARTER
1967 AS FOLLOWS FACTORIES EMPLOYING WOMEN ON OVERTIME FELL
-FROM 3P TO 140 SEMICOLON HOURS OF WOMEN AND YOUNG PERSONS
OVERTIME WORKED FROM 5,869 TQ 1,898 AND A HALF SEMICOLON NUMBERS
31
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