Strike to save Hong Kong - medical strike under the revolution of our times

Since the Lunar New Year, medical staff of the Hospital Authority have been busy "queuing up" because they are about to participate in an unprecedented battle. They "queued up" to join the Hospital Authority Staff Front. The long queue stretched from the Student Union on the ninth floor of Witte Building to the streets of Mong Kok Road. More than 20,000 people joined the union. They "lined up" to vote, and within four hours more than 3,000 people passed the strike motion. They "lined up" for roll call and went on strike for five consecutive days. More than 7,000 people continued to "strike to save Hong Kong." Medical staff fought the first battle of union resistance for Hong Kong people, demonstrating the possibility of strikes as a means of resistance and playing a role in social and political movements.

The Hospital Authority Staff Front (hereinafter referred to as the "Hospital Authority Front") was devastated. It was established only a few months ago and had not even opened a bank account before it was ready to go to war. Trade unions established in the revolutionary pulse of the times are best able to grasp the opportunity for fighting. The medical profession has long been one of the "core professions" during the 2019 anti-riot movement. The medical staff sent the brothers and sisters who were brutally beaten by the police to the hospital. After get off work, they participated in the frontline first aid work. The tyranny of the Chinese and Hong Kong governments oppressed the Hong Kong people in the most bloody way. The "medical sector" has never been absent from the movement, launching rallies to condemn police brutality in August and October, and jointly launching a strike rally with "cross-sectors" in September. During this period, there were collective actions in various hospitals, large and small. In the revolution of the times, medical staff were rapidly politicized. In November, some organizers of the "Medical Rally" initiated a trade union, intending to bring together the scattered medical forces into an organization and established the Hospital Authority Staff Front.

The revolution of the times forged militant trade unions

The 2019 anti-riot movement triggered the subjective consciousness of Hong Kong people's labor identity. "Strike in junior year" became the ultimate resort in the movement. "Why can't we strike in junior year?" has also become a problem that many brothers and sisters are eager to solve. The answer proposed by TG Channel's "Two Million Three Strikes United Front" to this question is to "organize a trade union and go on a general strike." Suddenly, establishing a trade union became a "side task" of the movement, and the "main task" was naturally "Join the trade union, junior year!" (the slogan of the union flag team in the New Year's Day parade)

"Organizing a trade union" is to find an answer to the "junior strike"; the transformation of the "medical telegram" into a medical management front is to find a way out for the right of medical staff to initiate industrial action. Due to the responsibility for patient care and the constraints of professional ethics, it is generally difficult for the medical community to use strikes to fight for rights and interests. Even the medical sector in the anti-riot movement is based on the same ethics and needs a "prior declaration" that it is difficult for medical staff to go on strike at the same time as other industries. However, the establishment of the Medical Management Front has challenged such values ​​from the beginning and refused to allow medical staff to continue to be kidnapped by morality. As early as December, the Hospital Management Front's stance on industrial action attracted the attention of Hospital Authority Chairman Fan Hung-ling, who publicly stated that he "does not accept a strike by medical workers" and even vowed to "follow up seriously."

The clear stance of the Medical Management Front makes them unique among such unions in the medical field, and also allows them to capture the anger and energy of medical staff in this "era anti-epidemic" battle. It is conceivable that with hospital resources and manpower severely lacking, and the government still not taking any measures to control cross-border flow of people at the end of January, whether there is a union or not, the anger of medical staff will inevitably be aroused. Before the Medical Management Front officially launched the strike, medical staff in many hospitals had launched outpost actions such as collective sick leave. However, it was precisely because the Medical Management Front was established during the "Revolution of the Times" that they provided arguments and methods for the rationality of the strike by medical staff. At the moment of the outbreak of the Wuhan pneumonia, the union seized the opportunity to inject the anger of medical staff into the union. , once again erupting their dissatisfaction with the system in a new form. The five-day strike caused the firepower of medical staff to go beyond sporadic two-frame news. Instead, it became a "strike nuclear bomb" unprecedented in Hong Kong's history.

This "anti-epidemic strike" is not only fought by the medical management front, but also involves the participation of major trade unions. As early as January 23, the Medical Management Front held a press conference and issued a "challenge" to the government, demanding that the border be closed before January 28, otherwise industrial action would be launched. The next day, major trade unions held a press conference to announce the "Five Demands for Epidemic Prevention" and also expressed support for the medical strike. From the "Five Demands for Epidemic Prevention" of various trade unions to the "Five Demands" of the medical strike, the policy demands for the government to close borders for epidemic prevention are tied together with the occupational safety of employees in the workplace. On the one hand, this makes the union's industrial action "against the employer" even more famous, and it also conforms to the legal definition of "strike" as being related to labor disputes; on the other hand, this is a political strike against the government - - Because if the government does not close the border to cut off the source of the virus, it will be in vain no matter how much protective equipment and isolation wards the Hospital Authority provides. As a result, the "Five Demands" link the policy demands in the strike with the actual needs of employees. The strike is therefore both a political strike and an economic strike. The borrowing of the slogan "Five major demands, none of which are indispensable" further strengthens the political tone of the new trade union that "does not forget the original intention".

It's a labor dispute, but it's also a political strike.

The medical strike demonstrated the possibility of "organizing a union and launching a strike" and also provided Hong Kong people with a rehearsal for a political strike. After the Medical Management Front held a general meeting of members to call for a strike, many new unions held general meetings of members at the same time to call for a strike. Unions in the medical field, such as the General Union of Speech Therapists and the General Union of Physiotherapists, have successively passed strike motions. White-collar trade unions and information technology unions also went on strike during the medical strike. After five days of strikes, new trade unions in various industries continued to pass resolutions at special general meetings to implement further industrial actions to prevent the epidemic. The entire labor movement situation has also affected existing trade unions. The Dragonair Cabin Crew Association passed a motion on February 8, demanding that Dragonair completely suspend its flights to China, otherwise it may launch a strike. The Singapore and Citybus employees' unions are also eager to take action, trying to collect "votes" from members to launch a strike based on the development of the situation.

From the announcement of the strike plan to the week before the strike, trade unions from various sectors carried out the message of "Strike with Medical Care" in various districts of Hong Kong, setting up street stops and distributing white ribbons in various districts. Union directors and volunteers set up a long production line of strike materials to bolster the momentum of the strike. The connection and unity between trade unions, established in the "first battle of the strike," will be an important foundation for the trade union front in the future.

The "newness" demonstrated by the medical "strike to save Hong Kong" and the new trade union front does not lie in their clear political stance, but in the way they intervene in political conflicts. The importance of the idea of ​​"anti-epidemic strikes" lies in the fact that trade unions intervene in Hong Kong's most significant current political conflicts and use industrial action as a means to respond to tyranny. Therefore, trade unions have played an important role in promoting the "closing off the border" in this "battle" and are not limited to "making political statements on issues". The (re)politicization of the labor movement should also follow this path, always getting involved in current political conflicts, and always linking them to workplace issues and bringing them into play, so that the two can be combined with each other.

The development of the new trade union front will fill in the political and economic issues that have been ignored in the past in the subject identity of Hong Kong people; the formation of the labor subject will enrich the connotation of subjectivity - the meaning of "independence of destiny" will go beyond fighting for one person, one vote Double universal suffrage also lies in our "independence of destiny" in our lives and workplaces. The battle for the rights of trade unions will also become a battle for the rights of Hong Kong people.

Yu Huiming, chairman of the Medical Management Front, said this on the last day of the strike: "In the future, we will take root in every hospital, develop union branches in every region, establish representation in every network and every department, and continue to work for medical care. We strive to ensure the safety of our personnel.” Let us look forward to a more combative and organized medical management front.

Author: Deng Jianhua｜Excerpted version of "United Labor Union Report #164"