12.
13.
to do with protecting union members from persons seeking to use unions for their own personal gain. The Explanatory Memorandum later refers to "punishment" of members by debarring them from office. We suggest that the punishment for an offence against public order is properly the sentence of fine or imprisonment handed down by the court. If Clause 12(c) is concerned with punishment the power to debar from office should be transferred to the judiciary. In fact, we believe that the effect of Clause 12(c) is not to punish individuals but to prevent the growth of important social institutions, trade unions, by making it almost impossible for their leaders reasonably to perform their functions.
We do not believe that it is a sufficient answer to these objections that the Governor-in-Council will exercise his discretion reasonably. In the first place the right to hold office in a union should rest upon the law and not depend upon the benevolent exercise of a discretion vested in an official, however eminent and well advised. Secondly, we cannot know how the present Governor-in- Council intends to exercise his discretion and we have no guarantee either that he will exercise it liberally or that his successor will take a like view or be similarly advised. Thirdly, whether the Governor-in-Council exercises his discretion liberally or not, no potential trade union leader could rely on it being exercised in his particular case and would be bound to act on the assumption that if he takes the risk of involvement and is convicted then he will be debarred from holding office.
Conclusion
We urge the Hong Kong Government to reconsider this Bill' and, for the sake of the development of the trade union movement and to preserve industrial peace in Hong Kong, to drop Clauses 12(c), 23 and 24 and, finally, to give urgent consideration to the inclusion of amendments to the law along the lines canvassed in paragraph 3 of this Memorandum.
August 26, 1970.
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