Pan-dems Join Labour Board Race – First Since 1997

Five pan-democracy candidates have thrown their hats into the ring for the employee representatives’ seats on the Labour Advisory Board – the first time such a challenge is being mounted since the 1997 handover.

The opposition camp had boycotted the panel’s elections for more than 23 years, saying they think the polls for the board's five worker representatives are unfair as only registered unions are allowed to vote.

The stance paved the way for the seats to be held by the pro-government camp, which controls most of the unions.

But with the emergence of new unions during the social unrest that gripped the city last year, some pro-democracy candidates have decided to break this longstanding practise and run for the seats when the current term of the board’s membership expires later this year.

They include representatives of the some of the newly formed unions, including Alex Tsui from the Hong Kong Hotel Employees Union, and Raymond Li from the Social and Political Organisation Workers' Union.

Easy Kwok, who’s the chairman of the Hong Kong Financial Industry Employees General Union, is also eyeing one of the five seats.

He said that after last year's protests they realised the established unions cannot reflect the opinions of employees.

“We want to show to the society ... [that] the pro-government party ... they are not helping labour at all,” Kwok said.

The polls for the five seats in the Labour Advisory Board will be held on November 21.

Bill Tang from the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions is one of the incumbents on the board and is reportedly seeking another term.