ENG-1955 — Page 58

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

300 unions consisted of 227 workers' unions, 70 organizations of merchants or employers, and 3 mixed organizations of employers and workers.

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Labour Organization. The greater number of trade unions in Hong Kong continue to be affected by political influences, and the trade union movement remains split into two factions, one headed by the Trades Union Council (T.U.C.), which supports the Chinese Nationalist régime in Taiwan, and the other by the left-wing Federation of Trade Unions (F.T.U.), which subscribes to the doctrines of the Chinese Government. Neither organization will embark on any kind of trade union activity unless it conceives that some clear political advantage will accrue. The F.T.U. continues to concentrate on the provision of welfare benefits, and the T.U.C. has ambitious plans for workers' housing.

Dominated by political ends, the unions are largely ineffective in the industrial field, and there is little to choose between them. Most of the independent unions remain weak, drifting from one faction to the other without quite losing their independence. A few of the independent unions, how- ever, show promise, and appear to have realized the necessity of carrying on genuine trade union activity within their own trade or industry.

The T.U.C. represents the greater number of unions, but the F.T.U. has a larger membership in a smaller number of unions. Paying membership is about equally divided.

The T.U.C. still remains affiliated to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, but did not send a representative to the Fourth World Congress of this body held in Vienna during the year. The F.T.U. is not affiliated officially with any outside body, but the All-China Federa- tion of Trade Unions claims as part of its national member- ship a membership in Hong Kong approximately equal to that of the F.T.U.

300 trade unions in a colony the size of Hong Kong is a very large number. In practically every industry, trade or occupation the workers employed are organized to some degree. The soft drinks industry is perhaps the only industry