Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 08:12, 31 October 2021

Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions 香港工會聯合會
Abbreviation	FTU
President	Ng Chau-pei
Chairman	Kingsley Wong
Secretary-General	Ma Kwong-yu
Founded	17 April 1948; 76 years ago (1948-04-17)
Headquarters	12 Ma Hang Chung Road, Tokwawan, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Membership (2014)	410,000+
Ideology	Socialism Chinese nationalism Conservatism
Political position	Left-wing
National affiliation	All-China Federation of Trade Unions
Regional affiliation	Pro-Beijing camp
Colours	Red
Slogan	"Patriotism, Solidarity, Rights, Welfare, Participation"
Executive Council	1 / 33
Legislative Council	4 / 70
District Councils	5 / 479
NPC (HK deputies)	2 / 36
CPPCC (HK members)	2 / 124
Website
www.ftu.org.hk
Politics of Hong Kong Political parties Elections

Politics and government of Hong Kong

Laws Basic Law Drafting Committee Consultative Committee Article 23 (national security laws) 2020 law 2024 law Article 45 Article 46 Article 69 One country, two systems Sino–British Joint Declaration Criminal law Capital punishment in Hong Kong Criminal procedure Jury system Law enforcement in Hong Kong Human rights LGBT rights in Hong Kong Internet censorship in Hong Kong

Executive Chief Executive: John Lee Office of the Chief Executive Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the HKSAR Principal officials Chief Secretary: Eric Chan Financial Secretary: Paul Chan Secretary for Justice: Paul Lam Executive Council Convenor: Regina Ip Government Secretariat and Government agencies Civil Service Bureau Joint Secretariat for the Advisory Bodies on Civil Service and Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau Registration and Electoral Office Offices in the Mainland and Taiwan Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau Leisure and Cultural Services Department Tourism Commission Education Bureau University Grants Committee Secretariat Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency Environment and Ecology Bureau Environmental Protection Department Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Hong Kong Observatory Government Laboratory Health Bureau Department of Health Home and Youth Affairs Bureau Home Affairs Department Information Services Department Labour and Welfare Bureau Social Welfare Department Security Bureau Hong Kong Police Force Hong Kong Fire Services Department Correctional Services Department Customs and Excise Department Immigration Department Government Flying Service Civil Aid Service Auxiliary Medical Service Transport and Logistics Bureau Transport Department Civil Aviation Department Highways Department Marine Department Housing Bureau Housing Department Commerce and Economic Development Bureau Intellectual Property Department Invest Hong Kong Office of the Communications Authority Post Office Trade and Industry Department Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices (Overseas) Radio Television Hong Kong Development Bureau Architectural Services Department Buildings Department Civil Engineering and Development Department Drainage Services Department Electrical and Mechanical Services Department Lands Department Land Registry Planning Department Water Supplies Department Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau Census and Statistics Department Companies Registry Government Logistics Department Government Property Agency Inland Revenue Department Official Receiver's Office Rating and Valuation Department Treasury Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau Efficiency Office Office of the Government Chief Information Officer Innovation and Technology Commission Hong Kong Civil Service Administrative Officer Political Appointments System

Legislature Legislative Council President: Andrew Leung List of Members of the Legislative Council Political camps: Pro-Beijing camp Pro-democracy camp Localist camp

JudiciaryCourt of Final Appeal Chief Justice: Andrew Cheung High Court Chief Judge: Jeremy Poon Court of Appeal President of the Court of Appeal Court of First Instance District Court Chief District Judge: Justin Ko Magistrates' Court Chief Magistrate: So Wai-tak Special courts and tribunals: Coroner’s Court Labour Tribunal Lands Tribunal Market Misconduct Tribunal Obscene Articles Tribunal Small Claims Tribunal

DistrictsDistrict Officers District Councils Central and Western Eastern Islands Kowloon City Kwai Tsing Kwun Tong North Sai Kung Sha Tin Sham Shui Po Southern Tai Po Tsuen Wan Tuen Mun Wan Chai Wong Tai Sin Yau Tsim Mong Yuen Long Area committees

ElectionsElectoral Affairs Commission Registration and Electoral Office Chief Executive Elections Election Committee Legislative elections Geographical Constituencies Functional Constituencies Election Committee Constituency District council elections List of constituencies of Hong Kong Political parties Universal suffrage

Foreign relationsDocuments Hong Kong identity card HKSAR Passport BNO Passport Consular missions in Hong Kong Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Hong Kong–United Kingdom relations Hong Kong–United States relations Hong Kong–Philippines relations Hong Kong–Singapore relations Hong Kong–China relations Hong Kong Liaison Office Office of the Government of the HKSAR in Beijing Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement Hong Kong–Taiwan relations Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office Hong Kong–Taiwan Economic and Cultural Co-operation and Promotion Council

Related topics Culture Economy Education Geography History Hong Kong portal

v t e

The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) is a pro-Beijing labour and political group established in 1948 in Hong Kong. It is the largest labour group in Hong Kong with over 410,000 members in 251 affiliates and associated trade unions. Presided by Ng Chau-pei and chaired by Kingsley Wong, it currently holds four seats in the Legislative Council and five seats in the District Councils.

As one of the oldest existing labour unions in Hong Kong, the HKFTU has long been seen as a satellite organisation of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC), operating in Hong Kong. It took a leading role in the 1967 riots against the British rule and was suppressed by the colonial government. In the 1980s, the HKFTU, along with the conservative business elites, led efforts against faster democratisation during the run up to the Chinese resumption of Hong Kong sovereignty in 1997.

HKFTU trade unionists were among the founding members of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) in 1992, which has become the flagship pro-Beijing party today. In the early 2010s, the HKFTU began actively participating in elections under its own banner with a more pro-grassroots and pro-labour platform, distant from the DAB's pro-middle-class and professionals outlook, in order to broaden the pro-Beijing electorate.

Policies

The HKFTU's motto is "patriotism, solidarity, rights, welfare and participation". The group focuses on the rights and welfare of workers, supporting workers in their negotiations with employers and helping them resolve labour disputes. It works to amend legislation to protect labour rights and prevent employers from exploiting loopholes in labour laws. It opposes immigrant labour and calls for legislation against age discrimination.

Politically, it espouses a strong sentiment of Chinese nationalism and has been described as left-wing and socialist, but also conversely as pro-business and conservative. It supports the governments of the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and is affiliated with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. It allied with the Hong Kong government on many issues but has a pro-grassroots stance on livelihood and labour issues, such as demanding more measures to reduce unemployment. Due to its government loyalist nature, industrial militancy has been remarkably absent from the HKFTU's action programme.

In addition, the HKFTU also operates five retail outlets to provide discounts to its members for a variety of goods, as well as training, medical and other services to members at discounted rates. The discounts also extend to include catering, travel agencies services and credit card facilities.

History

Early years

The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions was founded by pro-CCP trade unionists in 1948 as the Hong Kong and Kowloon Federation of Trade Unions. At the same time, the pro-Kuomintang Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council (TUC) was set up as a rival organisation. This was all done in the midst of the Chinese Civil War between the Communists and Nationalists in Mainland China. The HKFTU was registered as non-union "friendly societies" under the Societies Ordinance in order to avoid the restrictive provision in the newly introduced Trade Union Registration Ordinance of 1948. During the 1950s and 60s, the HKFTU functioned as industrially based "friendly societies" or craft-based fraternities and provided benefits and other supplementary aids to the veteran members who was under the threats of unemployment and low pay. It contested with the TUC in industries, trades, and workplaces under the "left-right" ideological divide in that period.

The relations between the HKFTU and the colonial government remained tense. Union activities were under strict regulation by the government. Inspired by the Cultural Revolution, the HKFTU escalated labour disputes into the anti-colonial government riots of 1967. Many labour activists and HKFTU cadres were imprisoned and deported. Due to its violence and bomb attacking campaign, the HKFTU suffered serious setbacks in both public esteem and official tolerance. During the riots, the HKFTU also boycotted participation in any officially appointed consultative bodies by the colonial government until Beijing's Communist government adopted economic reforms in the late 1970s.

Transition to 1997

In the background of the 1980s, amidst shifts in the political economy of Mainland China and negotiations on Hong Kong's political status after 1997, the HKFU readjusted its policy toward the colonial government. The electoral reform introduced by the government also gave trade unions access to political power. In the first Legislative Council election in 1985, representatives from the HKFTU, Tam Yiu-chung, and the TUC ran uncontested and were elected to the two newly created seats in the Labour functional constituency. Tam Yiu-chung continued to serve as the member of the Legislative Council until he was succeeded by Cheng Yiu-tong in 1995.

On the other hand, as the most massive grassroots organ of the pro-Beijing bloc, the HKFTU also led efforts to resist the pre-1997 democratisation. It opposed the possible direct Legislative Council election of 1988 with the slogan, "Hong Kong workers only want meal tickets, not electoral ballots." However, during the Hong Kong Basic Law drafting process from 1985 to 1990, the HKFTU had to repudiate its demands on the rights to union recognition and collective bargaining in the Consultative and Drafting Committees dominated by tycoons. The HKFTU's devotion to Beijing and its collaboration with the conservative business interests were challenged by some leftist unionists.

In the beginning of the 1990s, the HKFTU became more involved in politics to counter the growing influence of pro-democracy parties such as the United Democrats of Hong Kong (later transformed into the Democratic Party) and its ally the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU). Chan Yuen-han ran as the HKFTU candidate in the 1991 Legislative Council direct election but was defeated by Lau Chin-shek, a pro-democracy labour activist representing the United Democrats of Hong Kong. In 1992, the first pro-Beijing political party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), was co-founded by HKFTU members. HKFTU began mobilising its supporters to vote for DAB candidates in the Legislative Council elections.

Since handover

After the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, the HKFTU's representatives joined the Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council to roll back several pre-handover labour rights laws passed in spring 1997 by the colonial legislature controlled by the pro-democracy camp, which included the collective bargaining right under the Employee's Rights to Representation, Consultation and Collective Bargaining Ordinance. The Provisional Legislative Council also enacted new electoral rules to disenfranchise some 800,000 blue-, gray- and white-collar workers in the nine functional constituencies created from Chris Patten's electoral reform. The number of eligible voters in the Labour functional constituency was reduced from 2,001 qualified union officials in 1995 to only 361 unions on a one-vote-per-union basis for the first SAR elections in 1998.

The HKFTU has been a vocal supporter of the central government in Beijing and the Hong Kong SAR government; its then-president Cheng Yiu-tong was appointed as a non-official member of the Executive Council from 2002 to 2017. During the early years of the SAR administration, HKFTU members ran in direct elections under the banner of its sister organisation DAB. Since the 2008 Legislative Council elections, HKFTU members Chan Yuen-han and Wong Kwok-hing have ran independently from DAB, under a more grassroots and pro-labour rights agenda. In the 2011 District Council election, the HKFTU ran 20 candidates entirely on its own, winning 11 seats. In the 2012 Legislative Council elections, the HKFTU filled candidates in four of the five geographical constituencies and veteran Chan Yuen-han contested in the territory-wide District Council (Second) constituency, becoming the fourth largest political group in the legislature.

In the 2015 District Council election, the HKFTU had 29 candidates elected (two under both DAB and HKFTU banners). Its Legislative Council seats dropped from six to five in the 2016 Legislative Council election as veteran Wong Kwok-hing failed to retain his District Council (Second) seat. Nevertheless, the HKFTU remains the third-largest political group in the Legislative Council as of late 2020.

The HKFTU suffered a major defeat in the 2019 District Council election, which was held amidst the 2019 protests, retaining only five of their previous 29 seats.

Finance

In August 2018, the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily reported that the HKFTU had total assets of about $250 million Hong Kong dollars. From 2015 to 2017, the HKFTU accumulated an income of $380 million, including $242 million from an unknown donor. The HKFTU also allegedly avoided paying $39.2 million in profits tax by transferring $24.7 million to a company.

Electoral performance

Legislative Council elections

Election	Number of popular votes	% of popular votes	GC seats	FC seats	EC seats	Total seats	+/−	Position
1991	44,894	3.28	0	1	0	1 / 60	0	—
1995	DAB ticket		0	1	0	1 / 60	0	—
2000	DAB ticket		0	1	0	1 / 60	1	—
2004	52,564	2.97	1	2		3 / 60	2	5th
2008	86,311	5.70	2	2		4 / 60	1	5th
2012	127,857	7.06	3	3		6 / 70	2	2nd
2016	169,854	7.83	3	2		5 / 70	1	5th

Note 1: Each voter got two votes in the 1991 election.

Note 2: Before 2008 the HKFTU had a joint-ticket with DAB.

District Council elections

Election	Number of popular votes	% of popular votes	Total elected seats	+/−
1988	3,360	0.53	2 / 264	1
1991	6,229	1.17	4 / 272	2
1999	1,074	0.13	1 / 390	1
2003	3,928	0.37	0 / 400	1
2007	42,045	3.69	15 / 405	11
2011	64,385	5.45	24 / 412	6
2015	95,583	6.61	29 / 431	2
2019	181,418	6.19	5 / 452	21

List of leadership

Presidents

• Chan Yiu-choi, 1957–1980
• Yeung Kwong, 1980–1988
• Lee Chark-tim, 1988–2000
• Cheng Yiu-tong, 2000–2012
• Lam Shuk-yee, 2012–2018
• Ng Chau-pei, 2018–present

Chairmen

• Chu King-man, 1948–1949
• Cheung Chun-nam, 1949–1951
• Chan Man-hon, 1951–1954
• Chan Yiu-choi, 1954–1957
• Lee Sang, 1957–1962
• Yeung Kwong, 1962–1980
• Poon Kwong-wai, 1980–1986
• Cheng Yiu-tong, 1986–2000
• Wong Kwok-kin, 2000–2009
• Ng Chau-pei, 2009–2018
• Kingsley Wong, 2018–present

Representatives

Executive Council

• Wong Kwok-kin

Legislative Council

District Councils

The FTU has won five seats in five District Councils (2020–2023):

National People's Congress

• Cheng Yiu-tong
• Ng Chau-pei

Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference

• Lam Shuk-yee
• Kingsley Wong

See also

• United Front Work Department
• United Front (China)
• Politics of Hong Kong
• Socialism in Hong Kong

References

1. "簡介". 香港工會聯合會.
2. Leong, A. (January 2009). "Trade unionism and industrial relations in Hong Kong": 2. Hong Kong trade unions have traditionally been divided between those operating from a left-wing, socialist ideology (e.g., the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Union) ... {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
3. ^ Sprague, Jeb (2015). Globalization and transnational capitalism in Asia and Oceania. London: Routledge. p. 102. ISBN 9781317482864. However, while trade unions in Hong Kong are autonomous, the main union federation, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU), is considered pro-business and politically conservative and has ties to China's official All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU).
4. ^ Ng, Sek Hong (2010). Labour Law in Hong Kong. Kluwer Law International. p. 225.
5. ^ Kuah, Khun Eng; Guiheux, Gille, eds. (2009). Social Movements in China and Hong Kong: The Expansion of Protest Space. Amsterdam University Press. p. 210.
6. Kuah 2010, p. 207. sfn error: no target: CITEREFKuah2010 (help)
7. Kuah 2010, p. 207-8. sfn error: no target: CITEREFKuah2010 (help)
8. ^ Felber, Roland; Grigoriev, A.M.; Leutner, Mechthild; et al., eds. (2013). The Chinese Revolution in the 1920s: Between Triumph and Disaster. Routledge. pp. 213–5.
9. Kuah 2010, p. 208. sfn error: no target: CITEREFKuah2010 (help)
10. "財務報告首曝光 坐擁2.5億資產 工聯會避稅392萬". 蘋果日報. 24 August 2018.

External links

• HKFTU web site (in Chinese)

v t e Political parties in Hong Kong
Parties represented in the Legislative Council Pro-Beijing (89) Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (19) Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (8) Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (7) New People's Party (5) Liberal Party (4) Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers (2) Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions (2) New Century Forum (1) Roundtable (1) Professional Power (1) Kowloon West New Dynamic (1) New Prospect (1) Unaligned (1) Third Side (1)
Parties represented in district councils Pro-Beijing (174) Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (109) Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (27) New People's Party (15) Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (12) Liberal Party (5) Federation of Public Housing Estates (3) Professional Power (1) New Prospect for Hong Kong (1) Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions (1)
Politics of Hong Kong Politics portal List of political parties by country

• Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions
• Chinese Communist Party
• Conservative parties in Hong Kong
• National trade union centres of Hong Kong