Backgrounder: Hong Kong's history of collective bargaining law

The long-awaited collective bargaining law did exist in Hong Kong during its colonial era.

The unionists have long been bombarding the Hong Kong government for not initiating collective bargaining legislation, leaving the labor no bargaining chip in disputes with the management. But it was rarely mentioned that this law was once passed and added into the city's book of ordinances.

According to the book "Hong Kong Management and Labor: Change and Continuity", on June 20 1997, right before the handover of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China, the Legislative Council (LegCo) passed the Employee's Rights to Representation, Consultation, and Collective Bargaining Ordinance. Employees were given rights to representation and consultation through a trade union representative, and to be covered by a collective agreement negotiated by a "representative" trade union.

The ordinance required that the trade union's membership must constitute more than 15 percent of the employees and it must represent more than 50 percent of these employees. The collective agreements were legally binding, and employers had to pay the trade union representatives the time-off for representation, consultation and collective bargaining activities.

The passage of this ordinance stoked up considerable opposition of the Hong Kong Labor Department and employers. It was eventually repealed by the Provisional LegCo after the handover on Oct 30 1997, because

"It is likely to disrupt industrial harmony by inducing intense rivalries amongst different trade unions in competing for members and recognition for representation, and by impeding the operation of the current labor dispute mechanism through direct and voluntary negotiations between employers and employees. The Ordinance requires employers to consult employees through their representative trade unions on sensitive commercial decisions such as changes in ownership and restructuring. It is also very likely to adversely affect Hong Kong's economic competitiveness and attractiveness to overseas investments to the detriment of the employment opportunities of the entire workforce."