TNAG-0338-FCO40-374-Report-of-visits-of-Overseas-Labour-Adviser--G-Foggon--from--1972 — Page 37

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8.

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(b) The new Crdinance should provide a statutory basis for

conciliation and voluntary arbitration and make provision for the setting up, where appropriate, of Boards of Inquiry in connection with trade disputes. (A suitable model is being provided for local consideration based on the United Kingdom Conciliation Act 1896.)

(c) Powers should be provided in the legislation for the

Governor to intervene in strikes (cr lock-outs) gravely injurious to the Hong Kong economy or the welfare of its people.

Essential services should not be listed.

(d) Steps should be taken to improve conditicns in the

principal essential services and to ensure in particular that adequate means exist for the ventilation and settlement of grievances. For this purpose an examination should be made by the Labour Relations Service of the Department of Labour, in co-operation with the employers concerned, of the existing conditions of service in order to establish (i) whether wages and general conditions of employment are fair in relation to comparable employment in Hong Kong, and (ii) whether suitable arrangements exist for the rapid redress of workers' grievances. The published Department of Labour booklets entitled "Joint Consultation" and "Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures" should provide a useful guide in this connection).

An analysis of the new United Kingdom Act in relation to emergency situations and the relevance of recent re-thinking about industrial relations to Hong Kong conditions has been prepared and is to be found at Appendix A.

Severance Pay on Redundancy

9. In the absence of any form of social security in Hong Kong, redundancy pay becomes of particular importance, especially for the older worker who may not find it easy to obtain suitable alternative work quickly even in conditions of full employment. In some countries, including the United Kingdom, the workers' entitlement to notice varies with his length of service, ie the longer he has worked for an employer the longer the period of notice to which he is entitled from that employer if his services are dispensed with for any reason except a serious misdemeanour. A more comprehensive protection (which in the United Kingdom exists side by side with the Contracts of Employment Act 1963) is specific legislative provision for payments to a worker made redundant. for example, the UK Redundancy Payments Act 1965.) The Department of Labour has made proposals on the latter basis.

10. The need for legislation on the lines proposed is well established. Approximately 25% of all disputes dealt with by Labour Relations Officers are concerned with terminal pay and benefits. Moreover, a proportion of the settlements reached are on terms regarded as less than fair to the workers concerned.

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(See,

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