Sam Gurney
Striking dockers and supporters in the camp they have started at Hong Kong’s docks. Photo: Alex Leung.
In recent years there has justly been much attention on workers taking action to defend their rights in mainland China. We’ve seen major incidents in car and textile factories, and more recently the electronics sector, including Apple supplier Foxconn. There have been developments in both the legal framework and in workers’ willingness to protest, that have led to increases in pay and improvements in a number of sectors.
However the situation facing workers in Hong Kong, who while having at least on paper the right to freedom of association, lack many other basic social and legal protections, has received virtually no coverage.
This may change as a strike by dockers working for subcontractors supplying Hong Kong International Terminals (HIT) looks set to enter its 4th week.
To mark the first day of the Global Unions week of action in support of Mexican workers, a TUC General Council delegation visited the Mexican embassy this morning to meet with political consular Miguel Garcia-Zamudio. I went along, as the TUC’s member of the ILO Governing Body, along with UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt (the General Council international spokesperson), CWU General Secretary Billy Hayes (also president of the UNI global union’s telecommunications sector), and Unite Assistant General Secretary Tony Burke.
