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Article 7
Under section 13 of the Trade Unions Ordinance, the registration of a trade union renders it a body corporate. Sections 40-44 of the ordinance give a registered trade union certain rights and privileges which include immunity from civil suit in certain cases and prohibition of actions in tort for actions done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute.
Article 8
Article 18(3) of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights stipulates that. "nothing in this article authorizes legislative measures to be taken which would prejudice, or the law to be applied in such a manner as to prejudice, the grarantees
grarantees provided for in the International Labour Organization Convention of 1948 concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize as it applies to Hong Kong."
Like organisations and societies registered under the Societies Ordinance, trade unions have a general right to hold meetings of their members provided these are properly conducted.
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The Labour Relations Service of the Labour Departmnent operates a voluntary. conciliation service to help settle labour disputes, including collective labour disputes in the private sector.
Under the Labour Relations Ordinance, the Commissioner for labour. may authorise a conciliation officer to conciliate in a trade dispute in order to promote settlement. Where a dispute is not settled by ordinary conciliation, the Commissioner for Labour conciliation officer
may appoint a special to continue conciliation with a view to bringing the dispute to an early conclusion. If an attempt to settle a dispute fails, the Governor in Council may refer the dispute to arbitration with the of the parties, or refer the dispute to a Board of Inquiry, or take such other action warranted by the circumstances of the dispute. So far, it has not been necessary for the Governor in Council to refer any labour dispute to arbitration or a Board of Inquiry under the ordinance. Special conciliation was undertaken in one case only.
When a labour dispute involving claims of right cannot be settled after conciliation, the parties to the dispute may seek to have their claims adjudicated at the Labour Tribunal. The Tribunal is an informal court established under the Labour Tribunal Ordinance with exclusive jurisdiction over
over claims arising from breaches of Employment Ordinance and contracts of employment.
In order to safeguard the public interest against large scale trade disputes, Part V of
the Labour Relations Ordinance empowers the Governor to make an order for a cooling-off period circumstances.
in exceptional
The Labour Relations Ordinance which was enacted in 1975 had repealed the Illegal Strikes and Lockout Ordinance which provided powers to control strikes in certain circumstances in public services. Relations Ordinance does not prohibit strikes or lockout. If workers are The Labour not satisfied with the results of conciliation, with the report of the Board of Inquiry
of Inquiry or with
with the measures taken by the Governor in Council under section
section 11 (c) of the ordinance, they are free to decide on any further course of action they wish to take and are not precluded from taking strike action after the cooling-off period.
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