TNAG-0785-FCO40-989-Study-of-labour-relations-in-Hong-Kong-by-Professor-H-A-Turn-1978 — Page 139

5.

On the Whitley Model, a Senior Civil Services council was set up where

the staff side essentially represented white collar employees. The

i

bulk of manual employees were effectively excluded from this machinery.

Nor were any parallel procedural arrangements constituted for them, since

most lower-paid workers remained unorganised or were members of unions

which expressed no interest in "joint regulation" and were not thought

by government to be genuine candidates for recognition.

Along with the creation of the SCSC, the 1968 Agreement between the

Hong Kong Government and the Main Staff Associations clarified the

policy of joint consultation. The document expressed the principle

that:

"The Government undertakes not to make any considerable

charge in conditions of service which affects a substantial

part of the service as a whole, or of the members of one or

more main Staff Associations, without prior consultation

with the appropriate Associations or Association" (5)

Yet although the Agreement provided for reference to an independent

Committee of Inquiry where agreement would not be reached over terms

or conditions of service after discussions in Council, any determinations

arrived at by the official side or the staff side could be overturned

by the decision of the Government-in-Council and/or the Legislative.

Council and its Finance Committee. Because of the number of 'escape

clauses' reserving powers of unilateral determination to the Government,

England and Rear have concluded that the "1968 Agreement can be best

described as an unequal treaty" (6). It could be claimed that the

(5) 1968 Agreement between the Hong Kong Government and the Main Staff

Associations. Paragraph Two.

(6) England J. and Rear J., "Chinese labour under British Rule"

OUP 1975 p.270.