Unions Confident Of Hitting Target For Action

Activist labour unions planning an unofficial referendum on the national security law said on Thursday that they're confident of getting 60,000 members to take part, even though they currently only have 14,000 members.

Having 60,000 participants in the Saturday polls is one of the criteria for the unions to take industrial action.

The groups say they plan to go ahead with a strike if there's a 60 percent majority in each union backing the idea.

One of the organisers, Vic Tse from the Hong Kong Public Relations and Communications Union, explained why they're upbeat about their chances of success.

"We are still confident about reaching our target," Tse said. "It's because Hong Kong people in the past year have never let us down."

She said all the unions taking part in the referendum would keep recruiting until the last moment, adding that many people joining protests could face challenges from their employers, which was why the unions needed to boost membership so it could protect workers.

Separately, the Union for New Civil Servants said it wasn't trying to make a political statement through the votes.

The government has said that the referendum is a "radical action" and any civil servants taking part in it could be in breach of their code of conduct.

But the union's chairman, Michael Ngan, said the legislation is linked to the rights and welfare of government staff.

He said the motion focused on whether the planned security law would affect the public sector's interests or future prospects, so it wasn't a political action.