7386 D073815 140M 5/74 Cr.P.C. Gp.839/3
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(Both appeared to recognise the political difficulty of appointing LegCo members from the pro-Taiwan and pro-Peking trade unions.) In his meetings with both Committees the Governor has been unable to convince
them of the undesirability of appointing members of what are, indeed, small and unrepresentative unions to the Council. This is consistent with his general view that LegCo members need to be people with wide experience of community affairs and of high quality since the Council has executive functions; works very closely with the official side of the Government on most matters relating to the Colony's affairs; and therefore has much greater access to confidential information than say Members of Parliament. In his view, LegCo is more analogous to a Cabinet, or body of Ministers, than to a Legislature on the Westminster
model. Until there is representation from organised labour, however, it would be impossible to convince the TUC and NEC that proper account is taken of working class interests. There appears to be some lack of communication here, with little prospect of either side giving ground without mediation by
Ministers here.
42. At the non-governmental level, a conspicuous difference between Hong Kong and other industrial societies at a comparable stage of growth, briefly touched on above, is the weakness and fragmentation
of the trade union movement and the absence of
collective bargaining on any significant scale. Total trade union membership is only 22% of the working population. This is in part due to the fragmentation of industry: out of some 25,000 establishments in 1974 only 118 employed more than 500 people and no less than 15,000 employed less than 10. It is also in part due to differing political allegiences, with pro-Communist trade unions representing well over half the total membership (184,000); pro-Taiwan unions representing 32,000; and politically non-aligned unions mainly in the public sector representing 48,000. Various attempts have been made by the British and international trade union
/movements
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