of the unskilled felt that workers and employers had different interests
compared to 63% of semi-skilled and 67% of skilled respondents.
VII Respondents' Attitudes towards Trade Unions
There was an increasingly large don't know element in the questions
relating to trade unions. The interviewers reported here that a sub-
stantial minority of the sample did not know, in fact, what trade unions
!
were. It is essential to cut out these persons before any of the trade
union questions are asked next time. A filter question needs to be
used here such as "Do you know what trade unions are?" and the rest of
the interview section on trade union attitudes to be continued with only
if the respondent replies in the infirmative. There would still remain,
however, the problem of distinguishing between respondents who did not
have an opinion on one particular aspect of trade unions from those who
were afraid to reply. The only solution here is to make sure that the
questions on trade unions do not entail any personal commitment on the
part of the respondent.
The workers' opinions on whether or not trade unions had a useful part to
play in Hong Kong today were divided fairly equally between those thinking
the trade unions did, those thinking the trade unions did not and the
don't knows. The low proportion in the sample as a whole who considered
that trade unions did have a part to play (39%) ties in with the low
importance accorded to trade unions by the respondents in the previous ·
questions on job choice. The younger section of the sample were more
likely to think trade unions had a positive role: 44% of the younger men
and 49% of the younger women felt this compared to 17% of the older men
}
22% of the older women. A substantial number of older men and women
"
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opted for don't know here.
The respondents were asked whether or not trade unions should undertake
certain activities, and a substantial minority here agreed with the
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.