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Brussels December 8 1998 (ICFTU OnLine): Trade unions have never had many rights in Hong Kong, and the situation has become even worse since the hand-over in 1997. This is the conclusion of an International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) report on labour standards in Hong Kong, brought out to complement the World Trade Organisation's trade policy review.

"The pattern of labour relations in Hong Kong has always been, and continues to be one based on extensive freedoms for business, and extensive restrictions on the freedom of workers", says the ICFTU.

The report describes how trade unions have not had the legal protections to organise workers, resulting in the arbitrary dismissal of many would-be union members and union organisers. Even when unions manage, against the odds, to organise a workplace, most employers refuse to recognise or to negotiate with them. During the present financial crisis affecting most of South East Asia, this has deprived unions of the means to represent workers or defend their rights. This is a time when trade unions are most needed to support workers who are being laid off or having their wages cut.

The lack of workers' rights has kept the price of Hong Kong's exports lower than other countries in the region which recognise basic trade union rights, so boosting Hong Kong’s exports at the expense of workers both in Hong Kong and elsewhere. During the British administration of Hong Kong there were scant trade union rights, but the HKCTU, the main national union organisation, managed to win the passage of a bill to provide a satisfactory legal framework for unions just before the hand-over. This was immediately repealed after the handover, as the Chairman of the Federation of Industries said the laws were "dangerous". The ILO Governing Body condemned Hong Kong’s action at its most recent sitting in November 1998.

Although the Beijing government announced at the time of the hand-over that Hong Kong, as a Special Autonomous Region of China, would abide by ILO Conventions 87 and 98, on Freedom of Association and the Right to Organise, these conventions are violated, and trade unionists victimised. In 1998 the HKCTU renewed its call for collective bargaining rights, in order for unions to negotiate with companies which had refused to pay compensation for laid-off workers, for example, the German-owned garment maker Triumph International Overseas Limited.

In May 1998 more than 100 police dispersed striking workers picketing the new airport after the management had refused to negotiate with the union. On another occasion, Yip Kwok-yin, a union organiser, was sent warning letters after he had organised pickets of workers at a China-owned construction company who were demanding to be paid.

The lack of union rights has exacerbated the unequal distribution of income and wealth in Hong Kong. Over 10% of the population live below the poverty line, an increase of 2% since 1971, despite the continuous high economic growth during this period, and despite the enormous wealth of a small section of the population.

Women have been the hardest hit during recent years as production has moved to the special economic zones in China, with the predominantly female workforce in the clothing industry falling from 300,000 in the mid-1980s to 80,000 in 1997. Women find it much harder to find work as many of them are poorly educated, having been child labourers in the 1960s and '70s before the onset of nine-year compulsory education. Employers often reject applicants based on job stereotypes and the recently-established Equal Opportunities Commission has been strongly criticised for its passive approach.

Foreign national domestic workers, including 164,000 Filipino, Thai, Indonesia and other foreign nationals are extremely open to abuse, as they can be deported if they are dismissed by their employers. There are also frequent complaints of maltreatment of domestic helpers at the hands of employers, immigration officials and others.

The ICFTU concludes its report by saying that it is imperative that the Hong Kong government tables legislation to establish full respect for core labour standards in accordance with ILO Conventions, to allow workers to join unions and to have the right of collective bargaining.

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
Boulevard Emile Jacqmain 155, B - 1210 Brussels, Belgium. For more information
please contact: Luc Demaret on: 00 322 224 0212 - press@icftu.org

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