Labour unions staying quiet under heightened political suppression — Tang Kin Aah from HK Confederation of Trade Unions: Trade union activism won’t take the old path but hope to organise network sharing the same faith

During the anti-extradition movement in 2019, numerous new trade unions were established. Getting on the bandwagon, they hoped to win seats in the Labour functional constituency and Labour Advisory Board, breaking the tyranny of pro-establishment trade unions. Meanwhile, they aimed for a city-wide strike to attack the regime.

The Union for New Civil Servants was one of the most powerful new labour unions at that time — they organised street campaigns, assemblies, and referendums on strikes. Yet, under the pressure from the government, which has required civil servants to take the oath to obey the Basic Law, they had no choice but disband.

The regime has not stopped chasing after the opponents. When political correctness is prioritized over professional values and Hongkongers are besieged by fear, what should be the next step of the labour unions? 

Tang Kin Wah, the Education Committee member working for HKCTU for 7 years, has been supporting the establishment of many new labour unions since the anti-extradition movement. He admits that Hong Kong trade unions are being targeted by countless adversities, political suppression, broken systems, silenced social activism and so on. With the limited space they have, labour unions cannot walk back and talk only about labour welfare, but also have to connect people sharing the same faith and voice for Hongkongers. 

Political Revenge 

At the beginning of the Movement in 2019, CTU was already distributing two-sided leaflets during the protests, with one side providing information on what to do after being arrested, and the other introducing how to set up a labour union. Tang found that Hongkongers pay more attention to local labour union activism after the Movement. Since then, he has been supporting those who are interested in setting up new unions, helping them position the new unions and devising development plans. He also shares his experiences of setting up a union, helps with drafting new union constitutions, and facilitates the cooperation between new and old unions. 

As new unions are emerging rapidly, heightened political suppression targeting different industries follows. Civil servants are required to take the oath to obey the Basic Law by signing the declaration, or they will be removed from their position otherwise. Violation of the oath may lead to disciplinary punishments. An array of teachers were complained anonymously and some of them even had their licenses revoked. The strike organised by medical workers was disavowed by the Hospital Authority; the participants were considered “absent without leave” and demanded to “return the salary for skipping work”. Many social workers are arrested on the scene during the protests, being charged with participating in a riot, assaulting police officers, and the like.

Tang thinks that the government is trying to use every single way to suppress its opponents, including trade union activism, and chasing after each industry one by one. As he points out after the strike at the airport in 2019 Summer, white terror immediately engulfed the aviation industry. Cathay Pacific and its subsidiaries fired over 30 employees out of political considerations, including Rebecca Sy, the Chairperson of Cathay Dragon Union, which shows that the regime attacks whichever industry standing up. 

"There are two kinds of opponents for unions," Tang says.

Civil servants and teachers are directly restrained by the government; on the other hand, many private enterprises, such as Chinese-funded companies and Cathay Pacific, impose political censorship on their employees. "They can't talk about politics in companies, not even through their social media accounts."

He raised another example: The General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists published children books, "12 Brave Fighters of Sheep Village" about 12 Hongkongers extradited to China and "Guardians of Sheep Village" on the Anti-Extradition Movement. “These children books have vehemently drawn the pro-establishment’s attention." These two books were criticised by leftist newspapers and LegCo members. Some pro-establishment legislators even claimed that the union holds an extreme political stance, requesting the Education Bureau to limit the members' access to working on campus.

When it comes to the question of whether there's any union disbanding because of the suppression, Tang adds that some new unions established during the Movement seem to be no longer running - the last post on their Facebook pages was usually posted half or one year ago. Yet, he doesn't know exactly why these unions disbanded.

Hopeless: No Way Out in System

Tang described the referendum on strike and class boycott against the National Law on 20 June 2020 as "an assembly of new unions." At that time, the National Law was to be in effect, 30 unions joined the referendum to decide to go on strike and class boycott or not. Yet, the referendum only gathered around 9,000 voters, failing to pass the threshold. The public also did not pay much attention to the later Labour Advisory Board election.

According to Tang, labour union activism is just the same as social activism, heavily influenced by the hopelessness in politics. After that referendum, unions started to think about their next step, "It's kind of silence. We also expected more suppression coming."

He anticipates, "The government may not take down all unions at one go, and they don't have to do so. But you just know all unions will die on the day."

Meanwhile, with the advent of the totalitarian regime, some pro-democrat legislators had been disqualified and all pro-democrats then resigned from the LegCo to show their support and determination. Many already deem the LegCo as a mere rubber stamp.

As Tang continues to state, one could fight for the minimum rage and push forward the improvement of Labour Legislation by proposing policies and lobbying, but you can no longer do the same in the present atmosphere and system. "You could really chase the government officers to answer your questions in public hearings if the chairperson is a pro-democrat. Yet, is it still meaningful to discuss a 3-minute speech in details now? There is literally no space in the present system. We realised that we have to deal with the labour issues in other ways."

 What does the future of Hong Kong unions look like?

"I think the most important thing is still building networks."

Connection through Unions

With less space for reforms in the system and the coming suppression facing the unions, Tang mentions that what unions should do now is "building supportive networks in different industries", deepening the bonding formed during the Movement and creating space for other fellow activists in different dimensions. Trade unions are not only concerned about labour welfare, but also "what Hongkongers care about."

"What does a trade union of fellow activists want to do? Just fight for standard working hours? No. They want unions to do these." Tang thinks that the unions are not going to take the old path, but build an even greater network.

He took The General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists as an example. "They published picture books which are not related to labour welfare or legislation. These books are about language, the Anti-Extradition Movement -- something not directly related to the interest of their members. They make use of their professional knowledge to do something for the Movement. Their members will feel a sense of fellowship when they see their union doing all these.

Hong Kong Hotel Employees Union also issued the "Hotel Safety Manual" for dealing with police officers searching hotels before protests during the Movement.

Also, unions play a role in defending the professional values of their respective industries. For example, when the police froze several bank accounts of organisations providing financial assistance for those involved in the Movement, considering them suspicious of money laundering, HK Financial Industry Employees General Union shared legal knowledge about credit freeze and doubted if the banks had followed the procedures properly.

He recognises that more efforts are still needed for new unions to connect all fellow activists in the Movement. Therefore, what unions have to keep doing is to attract more activists to join the unions.

The Hospital Authority is still asking the medical workers who joined the strike last year to "return their salary". Tang points out, around 7,000 workers joined the strike at that time and 6,600 of them are still replying to each letter from Hospital Authority following the Union's instructions, telling the Authority that "we were going on strike but not being absent from duty." He says, if employees want to stay safe and don't trust their union, they could just have agreed with the Authority's narrative and admitted that they were absent and had their salary deducted. The action is not just a united reply to the employer, "but a way to build the mutual trust within the network to continue the action. They have not been divided since February. It is a powerful fightback." 

"The more pro-establishment the industry is, the more space for fellow activists is needed." In these pro-establishment industries, unions may not be able to take any action but it's important to connect with fellow activists because all industries are prone to political suppression. "Aren't the medical workers also facing fear? Instead of doing nothing and freaking out alone, why not create space by setting up unions? Let everyone find their fellow activists in the industry and figure out what to do together."

"No one can tell how long unions can survive but what we are doing right now must be turning into part of the future. Although civil servants are required to take the oath and the Union for New Civil Servants disbanded, no one would forget the rally on 2 August 2019 with 40,000 civil servants. It did let many know that many civil servants are with Hongkongers."

Source：Standnews #Jan27

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