TNAG-0650-FCO40-798-Study-of-labour-relations-in-Hong-Kong-by-Professor-H.-A.-Tu-1977 — Page 108

27

!

38.

for men

Even in industries where short-term employment is normal

especially construction, which was widely quoted as a potential

pace-setter for the male manual labour market - there are limitations

on the worker's mobility. The general system of hiring labour through

agents, who will each generally have a pool of workers (of specialised

or varied trades) gives the latter an interest in attaching themselves

regularly to a particular sub-contractor. Both in construction and

other industries, many firms operate with a core of permanent workers and

hire others on a temporary basis. But there are two recognised types

of "temporary" worker - long-term casuals ("cheung-saan-kung") and

short-term ones ("saan-kung"). The last are often paid on a daily, as

opposed to the more usual fortnightly or monthly basis: even in our

sample of factory operatives, about a quarter of all those interviewed

fell in each of the two "temporary" categories. So that, with luck,

diligence (and the avoidance of trouble) a man may move by stages from

very casual to permanent employment by making himself regularly available

to a particular firm. To which one might add that in smaller trades,

the sources of information on alternative job opportunities accessible to

the worker are much more restricted than in the concentrated manufacturing

districts of Kowloon or the tea-house recruiting centres for construction

Smaller

labour; in such/trades, the worker relies very largely on family and

friendship contacts.

завере за креат

All this presents a picture of a much more highly segmented

labour market, with mobility restricted to certain pockets, than is

customarily drawn of Hong Kong. But finally, the labour force itself is

also much less homogenous than is usually represented. There are groups

at a particular disadvantage in the labour market: many employers, for

instance, appear reluctant to employ young men without secondary

education because the present interval of two years between the age

to which education is compulsory (12) and the minimum age for employment (14) is alleged to make them undisciplined and difficult to handle -

..../