Hong Kong

Metal workers ongoing protests in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is generally known locally for its peaceful protests and demonstrations. Most civil and labour demonstrations adhere to the relatively restrictive practices of local laws governing demonstrations which call for advance police notice and set limits on demonstration venues and timing. [NOTE 1] Recently however there have been a lot more demonstrations and a lot more people willing to break the rules. This weekend saw some unexpected worker demonstrations disrupting the sacred heart of Hong Kong’s business district disturbing bankers and others in the area.

Metal working in the construction industry, is one of the rare trades where workers’ wages and working hours are negotiated between the trade union and the contractors and developers directly. More than two decades ago, workers, in order to avoid competition amongst themselves agreed to set a standard wage for their trade. The employers also wanted to ensure a stable supply of workers, and therefore, both the Hong Kong Construction Industry Bar-bending Workers’ Union (BWU), and the contractors and real estate developers agreed that on every 1 August, they would meet and negotiate the wages for the coming year. Currently BWU has 5,000 members and is an affiliate of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions.

Due to the Asian financial crisis after the 1997 Handover of Hong Kong to the British and the corresponding decline in construction projects, workers’ daily wages have dropped from HKD 1,300 to at the present rate of HKD 800. Workers have said that some contractors employ illegal or unlicensed workers and pay them at about HKD 500, making their situation worse. This year, the meeting for negotiation was postponed to November, which triggered a strike on 8 August among fears of continued stagnation or reductions.

The strike broke out in a construction site in To Kwa Wan (Kowloon) and both sides sent their representatives to further negotiate. Though HKD 800 per day does not sound too bad for Hong Kong workers the situation is not as clear as it seems – many workers report that they do not have full work and very often they are employed for half month and are left the idle and incomeless the other half of the One worker said, “how could I support my family? I can’t afford to buy diapers for my baby son. ” [NOTE 2]

A series of protests

After the initial strike on 8 August which was barely mentioned by the local news media, on 9 August, 200 workers staged a sit-in outside the Chief Executive’s official residence, demanding his direct intervention.

On 10 August, in the midst of Hong Kong’s first typhoon of 2007, when the typhoon signal 8 was hoisted and the city’s millions of workers were all rushing home, [NOTE 3] the metal workers were still on strike at the construction site, hoping for a response to their demands. When no answer came they marched to the nearest metro station (Yau Ma Tei) in order to travel to the government offices for further demonstration. They were stopped by the police inside the station - they then held a peaceful sit-in at the station for 3 hours before going back home. The same afternoon, three supporters of the workers, including two staff-members from ITUC affiliated and pro-democratic Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), were detained by police and taken to the police station, one of them in handcuffs. They were allowed to leave the police station a few hours later, but may face potential charges of “disturbing public order” and “refusing to show one’s identity card”.

The following day, on 11 August, around 500 workers marched from To Kwa Wan in Kowloon to Tsim Sha Tsui. They then crossed the harbour by Star Ferry and went to the Central Government Offices on Hong Kong Island where they asked to meet with the Labour Minister, Matthew Cheung Kin-chung.  After several hours around 100 protestors walked over to nearby Queen’s Road Central, the heart of Hong Kong’s central business district, blocking traffic and attempting to stage a sit-in protest. "Raise our salary, cut working hours," the workers shouted. 

On 12 August, after an un-announced meeting between BWU and employers. The employers’ side put forward an offer of a HKD 50-pay rise and a 15-minute break at work, while the workers’ demand was a-HKD 150 increase and 8-hour work day (currently, the work day is set at 8.5 but in practice is around 10 hours). The employers stated that they would only increase wages to HKD 950 in August 2008 but the offer of raising the workers’ daily wage by HKD 50 to HKD 850 would be backdated to 1 August, with an option for the rate to be re-negotiated in March 2008. Workers responded by stating that they would not accept any terms lower than their demand.  Some workers later said they were disappointed by BWU, for not informing them about the meeting and not inviting their new workers’ representative, Man Wong, to the meeting. BWU representatives unilaterally stated that while there was no industry wide-agreement if individual contractors would pay workers HK$950, then the workers could start working and end the strike. Workers complained such a “solution” was in violation of the concept of collective bargaining and would affect the spirit of those still on strike.

On 13 August more than 500 workers gathered near the construction site in Kowloon while scores of police erected metal barricades to contain the workers and cordoned off two nearby streets. The demonstration had been given official permission to proceed but media reported that it continued after the expiration of the official time limit set for the protest. At about 2.30pm, Bertha Cheng Wai-yue, a Labour Department chief labour officer, met Lee Cheuk Yan, the General Secretary of the HKCTU and strikers' representatives for about two hours in a police car, but afterwards said only: "Not everything happens in our life lives up to our expectations. How many people can realise all their wishes?" Sources close to the Labour Minister said that he was busy persuading the business side to give workers a better offer and that is why the association agreed to increase the wages to HKD 950 from 1 August 2008.

Despite the ongoing lack of progress in talks, the strikers have vowed to stay united until a concrete pay rise is promised. One worker, Tsui Wing-shun, 50, was quoted as saying the protest was "self-driven" as the workers felt it was time to claim their share in the prospering economy. "Our wages were cut during the economic turmoil, but the employers are not willing to revise them with the situation improving….A pay rise had been rejected for 10 years and it has brought outrage among workers."

Despite a warning from the Police Commissioner that legal action may be taken, strikers refused to rule out a repeat of Saturday's protest which saw more than 700 metal workers blockade Queen's Road, Central.

A politically-motivated protest?

Although BWU is an affiliate of FTU, a conservative union with a strong pro-Beijing background, the workers’ demands have now been taken up by the HKCTU, along with a local labour group, the Neighbourhood & Worker’s Service Centre (NWSC) and Legislator Leung Kwok Hung (a.k.a. Long Hair). The management of BWU and some local pro-Beijing media have complained that HKCTU and others have “hijacked” “their” workers and made them take aggressive action such as the road-blockade on 11 August.

Originally the HKFTU had been representing the BWU but it later stated that it did not support the workers actions at the weekend. The FTU went further and blamed – albeit obliquely – the HKCTU. In a report by the South China Morning Post on 13 August, the BWU Chair, Luk Kwan-ngai, was quoted as saying; "There were some irresponsible unions who provoked the workers into taking extreme action. We were unable to stop them and I must apologise for that.”

However, the construction site workers' branch of the Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU) also stated that Saturday traffic blockade and other protests were not planned. The branch's deputy organising secretary, Shek Lam-sang, blamed a lack of organisation which resulted in the workers being left on the street for hours. "We were not the organisers. We were called in to help when workers' felt that their requests were not answered."

On Saturday, the workers elected a new leader, Man Wong, to represent them at the meeting with the employers on 13 August. Man has pledged to release news to his colleagues every hour to keep them informed; “Only when the workers are kept posted about the latest developments in the negotiations that they won't feel upset," he said.

HKCTU’s coordinator Tam Chun-yin argued that although HKCTU was not the parent union of BWU, they felt that it was necessary for them to show support to workers as they were making reasonable demands - despite the recovering economy in Hong Kong their wages had not yet reached their original wage levels of 1997. The metal workers usually get some of the highest wages in a construction site, as their work is tough - a 12 meter long metal bar weights 80 kg and they are required to work under the sun for long hours.   

According to InMedia, an independent online forum, some of the FTU affiliated workers accusing HKCTU of interference were using the dispute to make a political comment in the light of the serious political divisions between the two unions. The reporter stated that while he was in the demonstration in Central on Saturday, some workers forcibly took the microphone away from HKCTU staff, while they were asking the workers to wait until Monday to see if the meeting between BWU and employers would be fruitful. The people who took the microphone started yelling HKCTU was useless and workers should just take action right away by rushing into the Government Offices building and blocking the road. The reporter was then told by other workers that those people who called for “immediate action” were sent by the FTU .[NOTE 4]

Two workers interviewed by the local media stated that they were dissatisfied with the progress of the negotiations and to strike, despite the BWU urging them to withdraw from action. One stated that "The union is not representing our interests…Those who manage the union are closely tied with the merchants' association which will definitely lead to a corrupted negotiation." He said many workers had either quit the union or refused to pay membership fees in the past few years. The second worker refused to comment on the political dispute between unions. He said the most important thing was the workers' interests. "We will support whoever is dedicated to fight for our interests." [NOTE 5]

Some academics have pointed out that increasingly workers have wanted to make the public aware of their situation and have begun to use more aggressive tactics to force the government to take action. In the recent months, similar incidents have taken place, following the same logic, such as a recent blockade of the airport by taxi-drivers’ over unfair practices, the demonstrations (and hunger strikes) over the demolition of the Star Ferry and the Queen’s Ferry Pier and the successful pressure on the government to remove a monopoly when small stall holders threatened a protest over the Ng Fung Hong company’s pork monopoly which had been tightening control over pork supply in Hong Kong, forcing prices up. The government later had to step in and allow other suppliers to compete – no mean achievement for a Hong Kong largely government by large monopolies.

NOTES

IHLO

August 2007