Five years ago, Beijing imposed the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL), under the pretext of safeguarding “national security”, to silence dissent and dismantle civil society. In 2025, the Hong Kong government further tightened its grip, fast-tracking amendments to the Trade Union Ordinance, effectively locking down independent union activities. Under relentless political purges, draconian laws, and constant administrative harassment, independent unions in Hong Kong are now on the verge of collapse.
Christopher Mung, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor, remarked: “In these five years, the right to organise, once protected under Hong Kong’s Basic Law, has been systematically dismantled.”
The amended Trade Union Ordinance grants the Registrar sweeping powers: unions can now be denied registration on vague “national security” grounds, foreign funding is strictly banned unless pre-approved, and anyone convicted of “endangering national security” is permanently barred from forming unions.
According to the Labour Rights Monitor’s latest report, Hong Kong Trade Union Under Authoritarian Rule: Five Years After the National Security Law, since 2021, 247 unions have been forced to disband — 16 times more than in the previous four years. Average membership per union has dropped from 1,019 in 2019 to just 612 in 2023, while total union membership has decreased by 6%, from 934,170 to 878,522. Meanwhile, small unions with fewer than 50 members have nearly tripled, increasing from 287 in 2019 to 794 in 2023, a severe fragmentation.
At least 16 union leaders have been arrested, jailed or placed on wanted lists for national security-related offences. Notable cases include former Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) Secretary-General Lee Cheuk Yan, who has been held in custody awaiting trial for four years, and former Hospital Authority Employees Alliance chairperson Winnie Yu, sentenced to 81 months in prison. Even overseas leaders have not escaped — Mung himself has had his passport cancelled, is labelled a “fugitive”, and now faces a bounty.
Beyond legal persecution, the government has used invisible methods to strangle unions: venue bans, tax harassment, forced dismissals, and assets confiscation. Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) chairperson Ronson Chan was sacked from The Wall Street Journal after his election; in 2025, 20 journalists and their families were unfairly pursued for over HK$1 million in taxes, tactics reminiscent of totalitarian states.
The report highlights four major challenges facing independent unions today:
1️⃣ Massive loss of experienced organisers;
2️⃣ Local and international funding sources drying up under political pressure;
3️⃣ Ever-shifting “red lines” making even mild government criticism or labour collective actions risky;
4️⃣ The end of social movement unionism — once reliant on broader civil society support, now completely severed.
Although mass arrests have slowed, overall pressure has intensified. Still, workers have not remained silent. Food delivery workers have organised wildcat strikes; bar benders have protested against worsening working conditions; artists have advocated for outsourced cleaners. Even under intense repression, workers continue to fight for dignity and rights.
Unions should serve as a bastion for collective worker rights — yet in Hong Kong, they have become a thorn in the side of the authoritarian regime. While the government proudly declares “harmony and stability”, in reality, it is trampling civil society and violating international conventions.
The Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor urges the international community not to look away, but to keep monitoring the situation and stand in solidarity with those who bravely defend workers’ rights under oppression.