ENG-1995 — Page 153

EMPLOYMENT

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region. The Commissioner for Labour ensures that Hong Kong's obligations under these conventions are observed.

Trade Unions

Trade unions must be registered under the Trade Unions Ordinance, which is administered by the Registrar of Trade Unions. Once registered, a trade union becomes a corporate body and enjoys immunity from certain civil suits.

During the year, 21 new unions were registered. At the year's end, there were 565 unions, comprising 522 employees' unions, 26 employers' associations and 17 mixed organisations of employees and employers.

Most employees' unions are affiliated to one of the five major labour organisations registered under the Societies Ordinance: the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (97 affiliated unions with about 209 000 members), the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council (68, 31 200 members), the Hong Kong Confedera- tion of Trade Unions (29, 79 600 members), the Joint Organisation of Unions Hong Kong (16, 8 200 members), and the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions (24, 18 100 members).

Labour Relations

In 1995, the Labour Relations Division of the Labour Department conciliated in 194 trade disputes involving nine work stoppages and a loss of 1 018 working days. The division also dealt with 22 180 claims for wages and other employment-related payments.

The Labour Relations Ordinance provides the machinery for special conciliation, voluntary arbitration and boards of inquiry to settle trade disputes which cannot be resolved through ordinary conciliation. The division tries to promote harmonious labour-management relations in the private sector through visits and talks to individual establishments, employers' associations and employees' trade unions. It organises trade union gatherings, training courses, workshops, seminars and exhibi- tions; and publishes newsletters, information leaflets and pamphlets on a wide range of labour matters. During the year, two training videos which can be loaned to outside organisations were produced!

The Labour Tribunal

The Labour Tribunal is part of the judiciary and provides a quick, inexpensive and informal method of adjudicating various types of disputes between employees and employers which are not within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board.

In 1995, it heard 6 845 cases involving employees as claimants, and a further 800 cases initiated by employers. More than $102 million was awarded by the presiding officers. Of these cases, 90.28 per cent were referred by the department's Labour Relations Division after unsuccessful conciliation attempts.

Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board

The board was set up in December 1994 within the Labour Department to adju- dicate employment claims under the Employment Ordinance and in accordance with