Mhives
From the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Rt Hon The Lord Goronwy-Roberts
London S.W.1
27 September 1974
Dear Mr Kenneth Morgan,
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Mrs. Providday
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You wrote to Jim Callaghan on 20 and 21 August about the closure of the "China Mail" in Hong Kong.
You will already have heard that the dispute over severance terms was settled by agreement on 28 August. lowever, since we had written to the Hong Kong Government about this, I waited to receive their comments before replying substantively to your letters.
The settlement was reached following a series of meetings, arranged by the Hong Kong Government's Labour Relations Service, between Mr Jack Spackman, the paper's former Financial Editor, representing the employees, and Mr Hung Kan-hong, representing the management.
As you know, the company which owned the "China Mail" originally agreed to pay salaries up to the end of August; one month's pay in lieu of notice; a proportion of the annual bonus (two-thirds of a month's pay), determined by length of service; pay for leave due but untaken; and one month's salary for every completed year of service (pro rata for shorter periods), up to a maximum of six month' pay. The Union sought additional severance pay of from three months' salary for those with less than six months' service up to six months! salary for those with not less than 11⁄2 years' service. This was resisted by the employers; but I understand that the dispute pighi have been resolved more easily if the principal directors of the
Cometh Horgan Esq
Stary
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