In this issue: New York Delivery Workers Win Minimum Wage, While Hong Kong Stalls | International Solidarity | HK Labour Rights Newsflash
New York Delivery Workers Win Minimum Wage, While Hong Kong Stalls
New York City has become the first in the US to grant digital platform delivery workers a minimum wage, raising pay to US$21.44 (HK$167) per hour from 1 April. This follows years of grassroots organising by Los Deliveristas Unidos and legal battles with major platforms like Uber Eats. Before the policy, New York couriers earned as little as US$5.39 hourly (excluding tips). The change has led to over US$700 million in extra wages paid.
In contrast, Hong Kong’s gig workers — often treated as self-employed — remain without legal protection or stable income. Despite growing calls for reform, the government’s recent study ignored core issues like employment status and excluded many ethnic minority voices. With no clear legislation, workers continue to struggle for basic rights.
As cities like New York and even provinces in Canada move forward, Hong Kong’s delivery workers are still left behind.
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
Hongkongers and Belarusians Stand Together Against Authoritarianism
In 2019, Hong Kong people held months of protests and strikes against draconian laws; the following year, Belarusian citizens, angered by Lukashenko’s dictatorship and mishandling of the pandemic, took to the streets in their hundreds of thousands. Teachers, healthcare workers, and labour organisations formed independent trade unions and launched mass strikes in protest.
Both movements faced brutal repression, with activists and trade unionists imprisoned, independent media shut down, civil society disintegrated, and dissenters labelled as “threats to national security” or “extremists.” Hundreds of thousands of people fled into exile.
In commemoration of the third anniversary of the mass arrests, Belarusian trade unions have initiated a global campaign, “Union Action is Not Extremism,” calling for the release of all labour and political prisoners and the restoration of freedom of association.
Please support the petition and show solidarity with imprisoned Belarusian workers and activists!
HK Labour Rights Newsflash
- Lenient Penalties Persist Two Years After Hong Kong’s Work Safety Law Reform<Read more>
- Foreign Secretary Confronts HSBC Chief Over £1bn Hong Kong Pensions Scandal <Read more>
- Construction Industry’s Exploitation of Foreign Workers<Read more>
- Trump Signs Executive Order Ending Collective Bargaining Rights for Federal Workers<Read more>