TNAG-0572-FCO40-705-Monitoring-of-progress-made-on-planning-paper-on-Hong-Kong-1976 — Page 43

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"In effect this means that our labour legislation should be at least comparable to that of our principal competitors. do not believe that Hon Members would believe it right that we should aim at pro- viding our workers with less protection than our principal competitors give to their workers. Nor could we defend a lower standard internationally or against the background of the sort of society we are trying to build. This is a field

in which we have made substantial progress

in the last six or seven years, but there is some way to go before we reach the

standard we have set.

sure

Nevertheless, I am

2.

In view of the reference to a standard in your paragraph 7, we should like to suggest that the second sentence in your original paragraph 6 should

be amended as follows:-

"Your Government has concluded that we

should set ourselves the target of achieving standards relating to conditions of employment, health and safety, as well as of aducation and housing, comparable to the best equivalent in neighbouring countries whose stage of economic

development is similar to our own."

Such a statement would be most helpful in dealing with subsequent Ps etc here.

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