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 oldest and largest labour group in Hong Kong with over 420,000 members in 253 affiliates and associated trade unions.[1] Presided by Ng Chau-pei and chaired by Kingsley Wong, it currently holds four seats in the Legislative Council and 43 seats in the District Councils.
HKFTU trade unionists were among the founding members of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress 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.[citation needed]
Politically, the HKFTU has been described as left-wing and socialist,[2][3] but also conversely as pro-business and conservative.[4] It supports the governments of the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,[5] and is affiliated with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.[4] 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.[5]
The HKFTU also operates five retail outlets which provide discounted goods and services to its members. Businesses include catering, credit card facilities, medical services, and travel agencies.[6]
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-KuomintangHong 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.[7]
During the 1950s and 1960s, 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.[6] It contested with the TUC in industries, trades, and workplaces under the left-right ideological divide of that period.[8]
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 1967 riots against British colonial rule. Many labour activists and HKFTU cadres were imprisoned and deported. Due to its campaign of violence and bomb attacks, the HKFTU suffered serious setbacks in both public esteem and official tolerance.[9] 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.[10]
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 HKFTU 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, candidates from the HKFTU and the TUC ran uncontested in the two newly created seats in the Labourfunctional constituency. One such candidate was Tam Yiu-chung of the HKFTU, who served as the member of the Legislative Council for the Labour functional constituency until 1995, when he was succeeded by Cheng Yiu-tong.[11]
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 attempts at democratisation. It opposed the possible direct Legislative Council election of 1988 with the slogan, "Hong Kong workers only want meal tickets, not electoral ballots."[9] 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.[9]
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 run 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.[citation needed]
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 remained the third-largest political group in the 6th Legislative Council (2016–2021).[12]
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.[15]
^"簡介" (in Chinese). 香港工會聯合會. 14 January 2020. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
^Leong 2009, p. 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)..."
^Lo 2010, p. 102: "As [LSD leader Raymond Wong] claimed,... 'The FTU is left-wing but it is often controlled by the DAB.'"
^ abSprague 2015, p. 102: "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)."
Felber, Roland; Grigoriev, A.M.; Leutner, Mechthild; Titarenko, M.L., eds. (2013). The Chinese Revolution in the 1920s: Between Triumph and Disaster. Routledge.