a grant of £1 million F and that £400,000 North Vietnam. As ently, the Labour he historic step of tribution of direct y Britain in North je to pay tribute to ster of Overseas ompassion, under- may she hold her ere be many such
ates and the Thieu eement? Quite sim- nd democracy were that is the real point ris Peace Treaty
quickly as did the egimes. Thieu has in South Vietnam Coca-Cola conces- n PX rations and so etnam can certainly ple of aid, the pro- and ammunition ed by United States icians. They really ces on building up schools that the of the earth.
Because the world Jbecause Fascist n you and me and that humanity and that we act. So we I would underline We hope that the ernment to continue etnam and that the kly join those 40 PRG and demand-
prisoners.
notion.
Council): The Gen- otion, but I would e of observations. ) concerning the ers in South Viet- hat, but we take the should be released ld, in any part of ause (b) concerning Government of the
Government of accept this, but on e Saigon Govern- and only covers accept this motion ing, that there is a jes.
With regard to the financial report and mat- erial aid which the motion calls for, we would like to make it clear, on behalf of the General Council, that we have given financial dona- tions to the Labour Party fund for the erection of a school in North Vietnam and we have also given donations to the British Trade Union Committee for Peace and Rehabilitation m V enam. Se tie clužng of a schoot in Nort Vietnam, that I have referred to, and for medi- cal supplies and dyke maintenance. We have also given financial support to the Medical Aid Committee for Vietnam and to the Red Cross for purposes of providing medical aid to Viet- nam. I mention the fact that we have given financial support because we would, frankly, like affiliated unions to follow suit. We think that support and aid is necessary and urgent, and we hope you will be able to join the Trades Union Congress itself in moving along the lines indicated. We accept the motion, with that understanding.
★The motion was CARRIED.
Hong Kong
Mr. J. Macgougan (National Union of Tailors & Garment Workers) moved the following:
In view of the responsibility of the United Kingdom for the Crown Colony of Hong Kong, Congress requests the General Council to investigate the social and economic conditions and the state of indus- trial relations there and, where necessary, to bring pressure to bear on the United King- dom Government to effect improvement by more effective legislation.
Congress further requests the General Council to seek to extend the various ILO instruments to Hong Kong, particularly full ratification of Convention No. 87 on Free- dom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Bargain Collec- tively.
He said: Hong Kong is really the last of the old Empire, and we are proposing this motion to focus attention on the horrible social and work- ing conditions that prevail in that territory, for which the United Kingdom is responsible. I think I should declare that we have a particular union interest in moving this proposition. Firstly, of 700,000 people employed in manu- facturing industry in Hong Kong, 43 per cent are employed in textiles and clothing, and of the exports from Hong Kong more than 50 per cent are of textiles and clothing. There has been considerable penetration of the United Kingdom market in both textiles and clothing over the years, and in clothing that penetration has reached more than 50 per cent in many of
the trade sectors. One third of the United Kingdom imports of clothing come from Hong Kong. If we translate that into a simple exam- ple, if the one thousand or so men attending this Congress are a cross section of the com- munity, almost 200 of them will be wearing a Hong Kong shirt.
We are stressing that we wish 12 JED! #IL dus marker by raising me Kantard of ire of the Hong Kong people. I was going to outline the lack of social welfare facilities in Hong Kong in considerable detail. Time of course prevents me from doing that, but there is one aspect in particular that I would like to draw the im tion of Congress to, and that is the exploration of child labour. There are admitted to be 36,000 children of 12 to 13 years of age em- ployed full time in manufacturing industry in Hong Kong, and there are countless thousands employed part time and on home work and piece work. There is no compulsory educa- tion, and 12 years is the normal school leaving age. There is no unemployment or sickness benefit.
In 1969 to 1970 Hong Kong spent 269 million Hong Kong dollars on police, prisoners and defence, and 19 million Hong Kong dollars on social welfare. We all know that the police are pretty well paid, judging by some recent Press reports, but for an economy to spend under two per cent of its budget on social welfare is a disgrace. Trade union organisation in Hong Kong is weak and fragmented, and it gets no assistance whatever from the government. The government is a caucus of persons appointed by the Governor, who represent the shipping, banking and commercial interests, with no working class representatives at all.
I want to stress the importance of the ILO conventions. The motion refers to Conven- tions 87 and 98 dealing with freedom of associ- ation and trade union collective bargaining, but of the 64 Conventions ratified by the United Kingdom less than one third have been ratified fully in respect of Hong Kong. The United Kingdom delegation at the ILO, which is tripartite, includes a representative of the Hong Kong administration, and therefore the United Kingdom Government, in the last analysis, must accept the responsibility for this position. The motion places an obligation on the General Council to carry its investigations further and to press for the adoption of the various conventions which have been accepted by the United Kingdom. I think I should tell you that Harry Urwin, who has been our representative on the Conventions Committee, has had considerable difficulty in raising questions relating to Hong Kong because we had not officially taken the matter up. We ask the General Council to do so on this occasion.
535
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