Hong Kong

HKCTU affiliated Union gains mainland China recruits

IHLO hopes to hold an interview with the HKCTU organiser involved in the dispute to get more details on the workers and the possibilities for future support for mainland workers working in Hong Kong.

A Hong Kong transport union has for the first time recruited truck drivers from mainland China. The ITF affiliated Federation of Hong Kong Transport Workers’ Organisations (FTO) has signed up 52 drivers working for a state owned firm.

Contact was made via a hotline set up by the FTO, which has also spread its message by leafleting truckers at border points. Information supplied by the union is also being passed on by drivers using Citizens’ Band radios.

Among the key issues for the new members was a lack of holiday pay. Chan Chi Wai, Organising Secretary for the Transport Section of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and the FTO, said: “If we succeed in helping the drivers to win holiday pay, I think more workers from mainland China could come on board.”

The union’s success has not escaped the company’s attention, and the FTO today reported to the ITF that it has already started to intimidate the workers who are promoting membership of the FTO.

See also: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/1422

July 2007