TNAG-0785-FCO40-989-Study-of-labour-relations-in-Hong-Kong-by-Professor-H-A-Turn-1978 — Page 135

INTRODUCTION

There are several features of industrial relations in the Hong Kong Civil

Service which are worth isolating initially.

Firstly, in the absence of any judicial or arbitral system of wage

determination, only the public sector in the Hong Kong economy possesses

procedures which approximate to collective bargaining in the United

Kingdom or the United States. Generally speaking, this is a character-.

istic which is not uncommon in other developing countries. In British

colonies and ex-colonies, labour organizations have often first appeared

in the public sector where relatively stable employment conditions and

some form of union recognition policy exported by the British government

have made what the Webbs termed the 'continuous association of wage

earners' possible.

A-related second point is that contrary to the pattern in the old

industrial countries, unions have. developed initially among public sector

white collar workers, while manual workers have remained unorganized and

least receptive to foreign and non-traditional forms of organization.(1))

(1) Nigeria, Figi and Papua are countries with a history of colonialism

which manifest the same pattern. In all three cases, union organizations made its early advances among public sector white --collar workers. See, for example, Abiodun H.0., 'Industrial

Relations in Nigeria', JIR, Vol 3, No 1, 1961; Hince K.W., 'Trade Unionism in Fiji', JIR, Vol 13, No 4; Spaull A. 'The Papua New Guinea Teachers Association' JIR, Vol 17, No 1, 1975; Also, Nuttall T., 'Trade Unions in Hong Kong' JIR, Vol 17, No 2, 1975 for a brief survey of trade union structure and growth in the colony.

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