'Tsunami' Of Union Applications Overwhelms Registry

Secretary for Labour Law Chi-kwong says the government is struggling to cope with what he described as a "tsunami" of applications to form new trade unions.

Law made the comment on his blog but did not directly reference calls from pro-democracy groups for people to join unions last year to put further pressure on the government to accept the demands of the anti-extradition movement.

Law said the Registry of Trade Unions received almost 1,600 applications in the first three months of the year, a 100-fold increase on the same period two years ago and up by a factor of 10 on last year.

He said more staff had been added to help the registry clear the backlog but they were working from home due to the pandemic and could only handle about 60 applications this month.

Law said he was unable to predict how many applications the registry would be able to handle this year because each on took a different time to process.

By law, unions must seek registration within 30 days of their formation,. They must provide the union's name, a clear set of rules and signatures from at least seven voting members of the union.

Among the new trade unions formed in the aftermath of last year's protests was the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, which led a week-long strike earlier this year to press the government to close the border and improve protection for medics against the coronavirus.

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