ENG-1972 — Page 70

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EMPLOYMENT

merchants or employers with a declared membership of 5,019, and 12 were mixed organisations with a total declared membership of 6,053.

Labour Administration and Services

The year has been one of further consolidation for the Labour Department which now has a staff of 555 and has extended many of its services. An additional branch office for the Women and Young Persons Unit has been opened in Yuen Long in the New Territories and the two Labour Relations offices for Kowloon East and Kowloon West have moved into improved accommodation in the San Po Kong area. The network of branch offices continues 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 ensures that Hong Kong's obligations under International Labour Conventions are observed. The department is organised into six divisions: Labour Relations, Industry, Employment, Industrial Health, Industrial Training and Development.

The Labour Relations Division dealt with 4,524 disputes in 1972. Of these 119 were labour disputes, 821 major grievance disputes and 3,584 minor grievance dis- putes; compared to 126; 666 and 3,411 respectively in 1971. There were 46 strikes and the number of man-days lost in all disputes was 41,834 compared with 25,600 in 42 strikes during 1971. Most labour disputes were due mainly to problems arising from changes in piece rates, redundancy, dismissal and insolvency.

The Labour Tribunal Ordinance (previously referred to as the Summary Civil Court) was enacted on March 29, 1972. It has been announced that it will come into operation on March 1, 1973. The Tribunal, which will be part of the Judiciary, will provide a quick, simple and inexpensive method of settling monetary claims arising from contracts of employment, the provisions of the Employment Ordinance, and certain other ordinances. Claims will be determined by a single, legally qualified presiding officer assisted by a number of tribunal officers and supporting staff. The proceedings of the Tribunal will be conducted in an informal manner.

Conciliation by an authorised officer will normally precede the hearing. Thus, the Tribunal will be complementary to, and will not replace the existing conciliation services provided by the Labour Relations Service of the Labour Department. With the permission of the Tribunal, the right of audience may be given to an office bearer of a registered trade union or of an association of employers if he is duly authorised in writing by one of the parties. The Tribunal can only entertain claims made within six months from the cause of action arising, and may award a party costs and expenses, including any loss of salary or wages suffered by that party and any reason- able sum paid to a witness or expenses necessarily incurred and any loss of salary or wages suffered by him.

By the end of the year, the Labour Department had recorded the existence of 109 formal joint consultative councils and committees set up by 50 establishments. Most were working smoothly and achieving the object of bringing management and