TNAG-0992-FCO40-1211-Policy-on-salaries-and-pensions-for-civil-service-in-Hong-Ko-1980 — Page 89

BIA

B

PS/Mr Blaker

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HONG KONG: SOCIAL WORKERS GENERAL UNION

Problem

1.

M

312

ме голубить знач

Mw

PA

ніск

223/12

HICK 43011

DEZNIO IN REGISTRY NO. 51 0 3 DEC 1980

HOER

PA

912

Action Teken

Ah 3/iz

To reply to a letter from Mr Dafydd Elis Thomas MP

(Meirionnydd Plaid Cymru) to the Secretary of State for

Social Services, which was passed to the FCO for substantive

reply. Sir George Young's Private Secretary at the Department

of Health and Social Security sent an interim reply on

14 November.

Recommendation

2.

I recommend that Mr Blaker reply to Mr Thomas on the

lines of the attached draft.

Background

3.

The Social Workers General Union (SWGU) was registered

as a trade union in February 1980, with a declared membership

of 242 out of a possible 2,700 social workers in the voluntary

sector. In a series of letters to the Governor of Hong Kong,

the union set out its demands for comparability in structure and

pay between the voluntary and Government sectors.

4.

In February 1980 the Hong Kong Government decided to

establish a Welfare Class Review for social workers in the

voluntary sector, similar to the one for Social Welfare Department

Staff set up in 1977-78. The SWGU demanded representation on the

Review Standing Committee, but this was rejected on the grounds

that the Committee would be unwieldy if it took in representatives

/of

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