Hospital Staff Subjected To White Terror: Union

The leader of a hospital workers union accused the Hospital Authority of trying spread white terror among employees by demanding explanations from thousands of staff who took part in a strike earlier this year as to why they weren't at work.

Winnie Yu, the chair of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, said their union has already set up a legal support team and were prepared for any legal action the authority would take, but stressed that their strike is protected under the Basic Law.

Yu's comments come after the authority’s chairman Henry Fan said during a press conference on Thursday that he was going to send letters to thousands of staff asking them why they were “absent from duty” in February.

Fan would not say if strikers would be sacked, saying that dismissal was an “extreme move” and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Yu said that they haven't received letters yet, and accused Fan of sowing "white terror" among workers.

"I think it’s the kind of white terror rather than revenge, I think they would cause some white terror on those staff who are threatened or who are afraid of being fired or being discriminated by the Hospital Authority," she said.

Yu told RTHK's Timmy Sung that they will draft a reply with the help of its legal team and give it to its members who get the notice, so that they can give a unified reply.

The strike in February held to demand the government shut Hong Kong's border with the mainland to prevent people infected with coronavirus from entering. They had also pressed for adequate protective equipment for staff, and for authority to promise not to seek retribution against staff who took part in the strike.