ENG-1971 — Page 95

EMPLOYMENT

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There are 89 independent unions, some of which continued to make improvements in their internal administration and in the services offered to their members.

The legal requirements regarding the registration and control of trade unions are set out in the Trade Union Registration Ordinance which is administered by the Registrar of Trade Unions. The Trade Union Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 1971 was passed on April 7, and comes into operation on a date yet to be appointed by the Governor.

The 337 unions on the register at the end of 1971 consisted of 276 workers' unions with a total declared membership of 197,529, 49 organisations of merchants or employers with a declared member- ship of 5,345 and 12 mixed organisations with a total declared membership of 6,472.

LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND SERVICES

The year has been one of consolidation for the Labour Depart- ment which now has a staff of 513 and has extended many of its services. A new regional office in Hong Kong and another in Kowloon have helped to centralise these services and facilitate their expansion. A network of branch offices also exists to deal with labour matters in outlying areas.

The Commissioner of Labour is the principal adviser to the Governor on labour and industrial relations policies. He is also Commissioner of Mines. All labour legislation is initiated in the Labour Department which also ensures that Hong Kong's obliga- tions under International Labour Conventions are observed. The organisation of the department now provides for six divisions: Labour Relations, Industry, Employment, Industrial Health, In- dustrial Training and Development.

The Labour Relations Division dealt with a total of 4,203 dis- putes. Of these 126 were labour disputes (formerly called major disputes) 666 major grievance disputes (large wage claims) and 3,411 minor grievance disputes (minor disputes). The figures for 1970 were 146; 331 and 2,332 respectively. There were 42 strikes and the number of man-days lost in all disputes was 25,600 com- pared with 47,243 in 46 strikes and one lockout during 1970. Most labour disputes were due mainly to disagreement over piece rates, redundancy, dismissal and insolvency.

The staff of five full-time offices of the Labour Relations Service on Hong Kong Island, and in Kowloon (East), Kowloon (West),