No. 87 of 1948, concerning Freedom of Association and Protection
of the Right to Organise, and No.98 of 1949 concerning the Right
to Organise and Collective Bargaining are also extensively applied.
6. Nevertheless, the need for interim legislation to regulate
conditions of work until such time as adequate voluntary negotiating
machinery has evolved has been recognised both by HMG and by
territorial governments. In regard to hours of work, it is generally the case that these are subject to statutory control to
the extent warranted by local circumstances.
Trade Unions in Hong Kong
7.
Trade Unions in Hong Kong rarely function as effective
industrial organisations. With the exception of a small neutral
and independent segment, the unions are organised into two political groups (this division being reflected in the organisations representing workers in each industry) - communist and Peking- controlled unions in the Federation of Trade Unions and K.M.T.-
dominated unions in the Trades Union Council. Divided politically
and further separated by differences in dialect, they refuse to co-operate and even to sit at the same table. Their numbers have grown beyond the practical needs. Attempts to improve the trade union structure have foundered in spite of the Hong Kong Government's efforts to promote trade union education and the efforts of some
international trade union organisations. The rivalry between right and left wing unions, coupled with their failure to get down to genuine industrial activity, creates difficulties in the matter of their recognition which many employers are reluctant to a ccord.
8. In these circumstances the "punch" supplementary question which Mr. Rankin could ask is why in Hong Kong, where collective bargaining can make very little contribution to the improvement of labour conditions, more is not done by way of legislation to enforce internationally a ccepted standards. The answer lies partly in the traditional laissez-faire attitude of the Hong Kong Government; but equally in the difficulties of intervening in a sphere where Chinese attitudes vary so radically from our own. The fact that
the industrial activities of the unions in Hong Kong have been largely directed to the pursuit of higher wages and not at all towards the reduction of hours is probably a reflection of the lack of interest among their members in (perhaps even opposition to) a measure which they see as possibly preventing them from maximising their earnings. It is suggested that this point (if made) might be
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