National security law: unions and student group threaten to strike as ‘warning shot’ to Beijing

Name: Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam
Uploaded: 2020-06-06T14:29:57.000Z
Duration: 2 min 23 s
Description: Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam

Seeking a strong mandate, organisers are hoping 70,000 people will turn out for a vote on the proposed action

Move comes as councillors from 17 districts say law will ‘destroy’ the ‘one country, two systems’ principle

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Organisers of the labour strike hold a press briefing, including (left to right) Cat Hou Chui-shan of the Bartenders & Mixologists Union; Alex Tang Cheuk-man of the Hong Kong Information Technology Workers’ Union; Alex Tsui of the Hong Kong Hotel Employees Union and Carol Ng of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Union. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Natalie WongandSum Lok-kei

Published: 10:29pm, 6 Jun 2020Updated: 10:19am, 7 Jun 2020

Workers and students are threatening to strike as a “warning shot” against Beijing’s proposed national security law for Hong Kong, if supported by tens of thousands of participants.

Labour unions, including one for civil servants, and a student group are organising the action, which will go ahead if 70,000 people take part in a vote next week and the move is approved by a 60 per cent majority.

The proposal comes as 17 of 18 district councils passed a motion calling for the new law to be withdrawn, arguing it pushed the city towards an “irrecoverable abyss”.

02:23

Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam

Workers across all types of businesses are encouraged to join the unions and vote on the planned three-day disruption, according to Alex Tsui Hau-lai, chairman of Hong Kong Hotel Employees Union.

“The draconian law will devastate the local economy,” Tsui said. “Our workers are the eventual victims of Chinese political agenda. We will need a strong mandate to stage large-scale actions and present our collective dissent over the law to the international community.”