TNAG-0647-FCO40-795-Study-of-labour-relations-in-Hong-Kong-by-Professor-H-A-Turn-1977 — Page 150

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IV Workers' Priorities for General Improvement

The next set of questions we shall discuss here are those which attempted

to determine the workers' priorities between income and a series of

other factors. On reflection these questions appear to duplicate to

some extent the question 19 (ii) on respondents' choice of the two most

important job aspects. Since the majority chose income as one of the

most important aspects it clearly follows that they would prefer higher

income over more welfare benefits, better working conditions, shorter or

more convenient hours and more rest days. As well as tackling this

problem, more thought needs to be given here to the alternatives

offerred to higher income; it may be only a minimal interest whether

respondents prefer higher income or more rest days.

The workers in the sample did, however, prefer greater job security to

higher income (57 preferred the former and 39 the latter) despite the

fact that income was much more frequently chosen as one of the two most

important items than job security was. We suggest that the greater job

security envisaged by the respondents in their replies were included

factors relating to industry in general in Hong Kong such as the

depression/boom cycle and not just to the economic viability of a

particular firm that a worker might take into account when choosing a

job there. (The wider implicit meaning of this question needs bringing

out in the next survey.)

The respondents also preferred more provision of social services to

higher income (66% compared to 33%). Social services were in particular

demanded by the young (74% of younger men and 73% of younger women

compared to 56% of older men and 33% of older women preferred more

social services) and by those employed in the large firms whose

expectations of benefits in general one might expect to be higher on

account of the greater welfare benefits they received from their

employers (74% of respondents in large firms chose more provision of

social services compared to 58% of those in small firms). However, a

careful check needs to be made next time on the varying attractiveness

of the social services offered to the respondents with housing being

separated from schools and medical services.

The respondents' preference of greater job security in general and for

the provision of more social services over higher income suggests that

the picture painted by England and Rear, etc, of the Hong Kong worker

as being totally dominated by money, needs to be modified. The workers

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