TNAG-0230-FCO40-266-Conditions-of-employment-of-labour-force-in-Hong-Kong-1970 — Page 144

It appears, then, that we are neither fish, flesh nor fowl in so far as our relations with the United Kingdom are concerned. This is highly unsatis-

factory. I firmly believe that our Government in Hong Kong must be given

the full authority to make decisions on internal matters so that we can

adopt measures which, in our opinion, are in the overall interests of our

community.

Sir, I now come back to the Employment (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill 1970 and

have one point in detail. It relates to sub-section (5) of new section 11F

and sub-section (3) of new section 11G. These two sub-sections grant permission to an employer to substitute for any appointed rest day some other rest day within the period of thirty days next following. I think that it is, An essential, for practical reasons, to allow a substitute rest day to be given on a day preceding the appointed reat day, and not necessarily only on following the appointed rest day.

a day

Let me take an example to demonstrate the need for greater flexibility in substitute rest days. The first day of May is known internationally as the Labour Day and is a holiday for most, if not for all factories.

This year May the 1st is a Friday. Since many factories definitely take Sunday as the appointed rest day of the week, it is very likely that some factories prefer, on account of higher efficiency and greater economy in their operations, to have two non-working days running consecutively or in other words to bring forward the appointed rest day of that week from Sundɛg tɔ Saturday. Without amendment and subsection 5 of section 11F does not permit such a flexibility in the change of appointed rest days.

With these remarks, Sir, I support the motion before Council.

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in Commitu.