On 3 October 2021, the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions passed a resolution to dissolve under tremendous political pressure, ending its 31-year history.
Three years later, today, civil society organisations and unions in Hong Kong have been forced to disband one by one, Labour Day Marches have been banned, and the professional autonomy of social workers and teachers has been curtailed. In the absence of the independent unions’ counterpowers, labour policies are worsening, resulting in a dramatic widening of socioeconomic inequality.
Hong Kong’s civil society has collapsed. Independent unions have been suppressed, and the professional autonomy of social workers and teachers has been curtailed. Without independent unions, the government violently expands imports of foreign labour, disregarding local workers’ rights.
Despite the government’s heavy-handed measures, it has been unable to silence the voices of worker resistance. Labour activists continue to find ways to protect workers’ rights even in the smallest gaps. Meanwhile, diaspora labour and social movement activists scattered around the world have not forgotten their purpose, and they keep fighting for Hong Kong’s democracy, freedom, and independent labour movement.
As the Former Secretary General Lee Cheuk-yan wrote in a letter from prison to his fellow labour comrades three years ago, “We must not discount our past efforts. HKCTU has sown the seed of conviction in the independent labour movement in Hong Kong: some fruits have ripened, and others will follow in a favourable climate. All the pathways we have travelled, and all the footprints we have left, will certainly lead others to follow and continue the journey.”