TNAG-0647-FCO40-795-Study-of-labour-relations-in-Hong-Kong-by-Professor-H-A-Turn-1977 — Page 109

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60.

Employee organisations registered as trade unions, in fact, are

engaged in a considerable number of activities of a social, cultural

and recreational, or quasi-political character, which in many cases

clearly represent their major function. These include the provision of

friendly benefits, accommodation or housing for members, the operation

of schools, the organisation of social activities, and so on. Even had

not the local trade union ordinances in the past virtually prevented

the employment of full-time organisers and negotiators, subscriptions

are generally too low to permit even substantial unions to maintain an

effective staff. Few unions have anything in nature of a formal "shop

floor" organisation: they typically operate through (relatively) large

local branches or general meetings in the case of smaller societies.

I was usually told that normal branch meetings consisted only of

officers and committee members, with a large attendance only for annual

general meetings, which were commonly combined with a dinner or social

function. And neither individual unions nor the two major federations

have systematic programmes, either in the sense of proposals for social

improvement or as a basis for the negotiation of periodic revisions in

their members' terms of employment. Industrially (with one or two

exceptions of individual unions, again) they are remarkable for their

lack of normal trade union militancy.

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61. Thus, the dominant left-wing grouping, the FTU, offers its members

discounts in Peking-owned stores, special "light bus" services and

reading centres, lectures on and trips to China, some schools for

members' children, and so on. It appears, in fact, despite the nearly

100 unions affiliated or "friendly" to it, comparatively centrally-

organised, operating largely through its five biggest unions, which have

about 25 "branch offices" where an official will usually be found, at

least in the evenings. Any worker, irrespective of his trade, can go to

any branch in case of a grievance or dispute; the branch will report the

matter to FTU headquarters, which will assign an officer from an

appropriate affiliate to advise the worker or group involved. But the

FTU itself will take no stand on the matter (I understand that in the

past three years it has taken no official position nor made any public

statement in an industrial dispute). Moreover, the affiliated or

'friendly' union itself will quite commonly not appear as the workers'

representatives, but confine itself to background guidance to the group

involved.

/62. FTU unions