From the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S.W.1
31 May, 1973
20
ORGANIZED SALARIED STAFFS IN HONG KONG
In my letter of 21 March I promised to write again about the proposals outlined in your letter of 8 March for improvement of the industrial relations machinery in Hong Kong. We have now had a chance to consider your proposals in conjunction with the Hong Kong Government.
As you
It seems to us that a prerequisite for the introduction of compulsory arbitration incorporating the use of standing arbitration machinery and for machinery to determine recognition should be the existence of strong and responsible unions which are supported by the majority of workers. This, in the Governor's view, is not yet the case in Hong Kong. are aware a number of factors have combined against the development of strong and effective unions. They have been, and are still, politically dominated; most are aligned with either the Communist or the Kuomintang faction in Hong Kong. The multiplicity of small employers and the resulting organizational difficulties for trade unions, together with high labour turnover and high employment levels, are also significant factors. All this has resulted in weak and poorly supported trade unions; as you probably know, only about 10% of the working population in Hong Kong are fully paid-up union members. We are, therefore, doubtful whether the introduction of compulsory arbitration and recognition machinery would be justified or in Hong Kong's circumstances workable at present.
We and the Hong Kong Government do, however, keep under constant review the legislation concerning employment in Hong Kong and I think it is fair to say that over recent years there has been a continuous improvement in this field. In the near future it is hoped to introduce legislation which would provide statutory procedures for the settlement of
/disputes,
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