The Unionisation Wave in Hong Kong: The Noise before Defeat or the Route to Victory?

Hong Kong’s pro-universal suffrage and anti-authoritarian movement (Hong Kong Democracy Movement hereinafter) was a highly complex social movement that lasted almost a year. The movement began in June 2019 in a successful mass collective response to a contentious Extradition Bill allowing the transfer of suspects to mainland China courts that operate under a different and opaque legal system. However, the Hong Kong government’s early cancellation of the Bill did not end the Hong Kong Democracy Movement. Four more demands emerged, driven by “mass dissatisfaction with Hong Kong’s lack of democracy and the police’s performance” (Sing, 2020: 2). These were: universal suffrage; an end to the government’s categorisation of the protests as riots; an independent inquiry into police violence during the protests; and an amnesty for arrested protestors. Twelve turbulent months later, this current stage of the struggle to uphold and, crucially, extend Hong Kong’s limited democracy – already quietened by the pandemic – was ended by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) direct imposition of a draconian National Security Law (NSL) in June 2020. The NSL contains ill-defined crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces that carry sentences of up to life imprisonment. The implications for trade unions of such vague categories are clear, and two trade union leaders are currently in custody pending trial under the NSL. They have received widespread support from the global labour movement. Carol Ng, chairperson of the pro-democracy Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) and Winnie Yu, chairperson of the recently organised Hospital Authority Employees Alliance (HAEA) were both arrested on 6 January this year in a police sweep of democracy activists and charged with “subversion” on 28 January. They had taken part in an unofficial primary election to decide on candidates to Hong Kong’s partially elected parliament known as the Legislative Council or LegCo. Unrelated to the NSL, HKCTU General Secretary Lee Cheuk-yan has been sentenced to fourteen months in prison for taking part in pro-democracy events in August 2019 and faces further charges. HKCTU Education Officer Leo Tang was sentenced to four months for possession of a retractable “baton” and cable ties. Trade unionists have been sacked from or harassed out of their jobs for declaring support for the Hong Kong Democracy Movement. Dragon Airlines Flight Attendants’ Association chairperson Rebecca Cy On-na was dismissed by her employers Cathay Pacific.