TNAG-0647-FCO40-795-Study-of-labour-relations-in-Hong-Kong-by-Professor-H-A-Turn-1977 — Page 158

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Conclusion

*

In general the results from the pilot are fairly reasonable and very

largely make sense. The workers in the sample were mainly motivated by

money considerations though they were not entirely so as their preference

for more social services and general job security shows. They were on

the whole fairly satisfied with their present jobs and felt that further

improvements should come about through joint consultation. They were

There

not greatly ambitious for themselves but they were for their children

and their search for good pay may to some extent be a reflection of their

desire to provide for their children in the best way possible. The

sample respondents displayed a considerable degree of collective feeling

although some signs of the Chinese phenomenon of "face" were discernable.

They had high expectations of their employers' paternalism which they

did not feel were met in reality and this lead to some hostility.

was a considerable amount of indecisiveness of the question of trade

unions but it was not clear whether this was due to ignorance or fear of

reprisals. Those who did have an opinion seemed to be slightly in

favour of trade unions rather than against them. The younger respondents,

particularly the younger men, seemed to be more demanding, better

informed and have less of a "refugee mentality" (although it should be

noted that few of the respondents had been actual refugees). There was

also some substantial differences between employees employed by large

and those employed by small firms; the employees of the latter tended

particularly to give "don't know" replies on the question to trade unions.

Note:

a)

b)

In the above text, or in the footnotes that follow, "England and Rear" refers to J England and J Rear, "Chinese Labour under British Rule, (0.U.P., 1975); similarly, "Jarvie and Agasi" refers to I.C. Jarvie and J. Agasi, "Hong Kong: A Society in Transition" (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969).

A series of additional suggestions by Dr Fosh for the revision of the questionnaire used in the pilot survey reported above were numbered p.23 and were taken account of in the extended survey. P.23 is therefore not included in this Appendix.