Hong Kong Workers toward 1997: Unionisation, Labour Activism and Political Participation under the China Factor

This essay delineates the three related areas on Hong Kong's labour front, unionisation, labour activism and political participation, which have been transformed by the new China factor of 1997 sovereignty retrocession and economic integration. During the last two decades, the decolonisation-democratisation processes have rapidly politicised organised labour to such an extent that political unionism displaced social unionism as the hallmark of the Hong Kong labour movement. Yet, under the impact of economic recession and restructuring with high unemployment and wage freeze, the struggle for livelihood concerns may become the bedrock for labour activism in China's Hong Kong into the 21st century.