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Note: This article represents the view of the author and not the University of Hong Kong.

Every year labour groups will organize large-scale rallies on the Labour Day to fight for workers' rights. There were two rallies on the Labour Day which has just passed. The rally in the morning of that day was initiated by six members from the Labour Advisory Board and three legislators from the labour sector, while the afternoon one was organized by the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU). From the author's observations, these two rallies in the labour sector reflect not only the demands of the workers, but also the development of labour groups in Hong Kong.

In general, Hong Kong citizens are regarded as indifferent to government and politics who seldom participate in large-scale civic activities. Although a great number of HK people took part in the July 1 rallies held in the last two years, HK citizens are commonly not interested in other general demonstrations. Two coordinators of the protest in the morning, Wong Kwok Hing and Kwong Chi Kin, are LegCo members who represent the labour sector; and are representatives of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU). They bear charismatic leadership and should have a stronger ability to mobilize support. Yet, only 9 associations, with a total of slightly more than a thousand people, joined the protest. Comparing this number with the three hundred thousands members or the hundreds associations and sponsors under HKFTU, it shows that only a very small proportion joined this demonstration. On the other hand, foreign domestic labour accounted for one-third of the people who have joined the protest held by the HKCTU in the afternoon. This means local supporters constituted less than a thousand. Hence one can see that Hong Kong labour do not tend to fight for their rights through civic activities. As a result, the force of labour groups has been weak all these decades in Hong Kong. At the same time, it was believed that too little publicity was done by the organizers, therefore not many people know about the protests, which accounts for the rather low participation rate.

In addition, the fact that the workforce protested separately denotes dissension in the labour sector. The protest in the morning was initiated by representatives of the HKFTU. It is believed that most supporters were pro-Beijing. On the other hand, the demonstration in the afternoon was organized by the HKCTU. Apart from protesting for general labor rights, universal suffrage was also called for. Therefore, most demonstrators are believed to be pro-democracy. Although both protests aimed at voicing their demand for general labor rights, the two trade unions uphold totally opposite political stances. This is the main reason why the two workforces did not co-organize the rally this time. Dissension between trade unions greatly weakens their bargaining power, as well as that of the labour sector as a whole. If the relationship deteriorates and the conflicts continue, the labour sector may end up losing their benefits to other thirdparties. The labour force does not only lose its influential power in policy-making, it also causes unnecessary internal competitions. As a result, labour could not collaborate to fight for their rights.

However, would the labour sector be more powerful if the two trade unions collaborate? From the author's point of view, the possibility is extremely low; it may even further weaken the unity of labour force. The reason is that the two bodies hold extreme and opposite fundamental values, so the chance for them to get to a common view is very small. In addition, supporters from the two bodies personally endorse different political ideals. If we force these supporters together, they would only lose confidence in their respective bodies and eventually choose to withdraw from the group. For example, the "7.1 United Front", composing of political stars, lost a lot of votes in last year's LegCo election in the New Territories East because their political ideas were vague.

Comparing Hong Kong with other western countries, our government is not paying much attention to labour rights. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, Hong Kong differs from the United Kingdom, where the British Labour Party holds huge authority in their Parliament, thus labour rights are greatly protected. Furthermore, Hong Kong's LegCo adopts proportional representation, which hinders the development of political parties and weakens the influence of political parties in the labour sector. On the other hand, HKSAR focuses on pursuing "economic freedom and minimum government interventions". Therefore, Hong Kong government does not tend to support policies that relate to labour rights. For example, the controversial minimum wage policy, which has long been discussed, is still in the deliberation process. The government only keeps on delaying the implementation process.

All in all, the author believes that if Hong Kong's labour union force wants to make a breakthrough, the problems associated with the public, labour organizations and the government must be solved first. However, these issues have been long-standing and could not be solved in a short while. We must make use of the mass media to raise people's civic awareness gradually. On the other hand, in order to avoid over-dissension among labour unions and to change the government's attitude, we need more communication and support among different labour groups.