ENG-1954 — Page 50

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1954

for every year of service, irrespective of the length of time they have been employed by the Company. This retiring gratuity is normally given only to men who retire after completing 10 ten years' service. The Tramway Workers' Union is a registered union but is not recognized by the management as representing the workers. The management withdrew recognition from this union in 1950, on the grounds that it did not genuinely represent the interests of the workers, was continually guilty of gross misrepresentation and falsi- fication of reports and maintained its position by means of political intimidation and threats against the workers' relatives in China.

The earlier cases of redundancy dismissals had produced fomal protests from the union, but their reaction to the July dismissals was more positive. It took the form of an attack on the principle of an employer's right to stop employing redundant workers and the union demanded that the matter should be settled by mediation or compulsory arbitration. The Tramway management refused to compromise or to submit to arbitration on the question of principle. They stated, however, that they would welcome an independent Commission of Inquiry to go into all the facts of the dispute, including the facts relating to their withdrawal of recognition from the union so that the public might have the opportunity of forming its own judgment on this matter. The union were not prepared to welcome the appointment of such a Commission. Since there is no prospect of mediation or voluntary arbitration in this dispute, and since there is no pro- vision in Hong Kong for compulsory arbitration, it follows that the dispute will have to be settled between the union and the management.

32