Conflict and conciliation: industrial relations in an industrialising Hong Kong, ca. 1946-1960. (4th July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Clayton, David
• Is Part Of: Labor history. Volume 62:Number 4(2021)
• Page Start: 470
• Page End: 488
• Publication Date: 2021-07-04
• Subjects: Trade unions -- collective bargaining -- voluntary conciliation; Labor -- United States -- History -- Periodicals; Labor movement -- United States -- Periodicals; Labor unions -- United States -- History -- Periodicals; Travail -- États-Unis -- Histoire -- Périodiques; Mouvement ouvrier -- États-Unis -- Périodiques; Syndicats -- États-Unis -- Histoire -- Périodiques; 331.0973
• DOI: 10.1080/0023656X.2021.1934424
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0023-656X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article focuses on a long-standing riddle: what explains the quiescence of Hong Kong workers? Building on a literature written by social historians, industrial relations experts and social scientists, and using qualitative and quantitative data created by governments, the article discusses the effects of the de-radicalization of the working class; acute macroeconomic instability; 'paternalistic' and discriminatory labour management strategies; and interventions by the colonial state in industrial relations – most notably voluntary conciliation. The article argues that Hong Kong's dominant decentralised system of industrial relations was supported by a conciliation-based approach nurtured by the Labour Department of the colonial administration. It also notes similarities between Hong Kong's conciliation-based approach and that which emerged in 1940s Britain. New evidence on the effectiveness of conciliation qualifies the hitherto dominant thesis that British colonial administrations in Asia repressed labor activism.