TNAG-1795-FCO40-2555-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 5

of the Hong Kong stock market may be significant. The losses people have suffered may well affect the demand for property. And if the demand does decline, it would not be possible to get rid of imported labour in the short-term until the contracts for which they have been allowed into Hong Kong to work are completed. Experience also shows that in the long-term any concessions on importing labour are very hard to reverse.

15

These arguments lead us to conclude that there should be no relaxation of the criteria presently applied to determine whether the importation of skilled labour for the construction industry should be permitted.

Measures to Relax Restrictions. on Working Hours Generally

16

The working hours of employees in Hong Kong are not regulated, except in respect of young persons under 18, and of women employed in industrial undertakings in connection with an industrial process. The main provisions of the Women and Young Persons (Industry) Regulations are at Annex B and are concerned with limiting the amount of overtime and shift work which can be undertaken. The strictness of these Regulations is mitigated in several respects by the discretionary powers available to the Commissioner

for Labour. The exercise of these discretionary powers requires in most cases prior written notice by employers to the Commissioner. This requirement limits their ability to respond to sudden changes of circumstances. With the economic boom of the last two years, the Commissioner has relaxed several restrictions. particular he has

(a) exempted certain employers

(b)

(c)

from the

prohibition on night shift work, subject to conditions protecting the health and safety of the women concerned, So that currently some 1 100 women are working night shifts between 11pm to 7am;

approved all applications for excess overtime received in the last two to three years.

Currently

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industrial undertakings have been granted excess overtime of up to 150 additional hours per

annum;

permitted oral notification of overtime since March 1985, the statutory form to be submitted later. This provision facilitates last-minute changes to work schedules;

In