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Whither Hong Kong's Unions: Autonomous Trade Unionism or Classic Dualism?
Author(s) -
Snape Ed,
Chan Andy W.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8543.00040
Subject(s) - credibility , ideology , dualism , adversarial system , autonomy , dual (grammatical number) , trade union , threatened species , political economy , political science , independence (probability theory) , sociology , economics , labour economics , law , epistemology , art , ecology , philosophy , statistics , literature , mathematics , politics , habitat , biology
This paper presents an evaluation of the ideologies and behaviour of the main union groupings in Hong Kong. The CTU's ‘adversarial’ line and ‘inclusive’ approach has threatened to break with the traditional industrial pacifism of Hong Kong's unions, while the FTU's recognition of its ‘dual functioning’ role has been balanced by the need to maintain credibility as an effective representative of workers' interests. The TUC has been passive in recent years, and the independent unions tend to be rather inward‐looking. Unions remain weak, particularly at the workplace, and it is uncertain to what extent union autonomy can be sustained.