19.
SECRET
37.
In the face of the drop in real wages the Hong Kong Government seriously considered inter- vention by imposition of a minimum wage, and I discussed the pros and cons in the Department in 1974. If the rate had been set low it would have been ridiculous, and if high it would have resulted either in
redundancies or evasion by agreement between workers and management, since the workers were primarily concerned in the economic circumstances then prevailing, which they fully understood, with maintaining employ- ment rather than maintaining real wages. They were confident of their ability to make good their position once prosperity returned. I do not exclude the possibility of legislation for a minimum wage in Hong Kong; but I believe that it would be of little local practical advantage for workers, though it might have cosmetic value elsewhere.
38.
The recently introduced Apprenticeship Ordinance and the two Industrial Training Ordinances for the clothing and construction industries, and the growth of technical institutes will, over the next 5 years or so, improve the standards of skills of workers, and should increase their ability to command higher wages. The necessity to up-grade Hong Kong products in order to remain competitive, and the special industrial policies of the Government to diversify the industrial base and introduce new and more technically advanced industries, and land policies to house them, should all increase emphasis on industrial training with ultimately beneficial effects on wages and conditions.
Conditions of Employment
39.
In view of the weakness of the unions and the reliance albeit comparatively successful reliance - of workers on market forces and high mobility to improve their standard of life, there is a special obligation on the Government to legislate for conditions of employment. Since '67 102 items of legislation have been passed, some of the most important of them in the last few years, in particular the introduction of a Labour Tribunal, provision for redundancy payments, and above all the Labour Relations Ordinance which gives the Commissioner
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