Labour Party (Hong Kong)

Labour Party
Labour Party
Hanyu Pinyin	Gōngdǎng
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Gūng dóng
Jyutping	Gung1 dong2

Labour Party

工黨
Labour Party 工黨
District Councils	0 / 470
Website
	www.labour.org.hk
	Politics of Hong Kong; Political parties; Elections;

The Labour Party is a

social democratic

political party in Hong Kong established in 2011.

The party was founded in 2011 by three veteran

pro-democracy legislators to consolidate centre-left, pro-labour, pro-democracy voices in the legislature. Led by Lee Cheuk-yan, the long-time general secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), the party won four seats in the 2012 Legislative Council election

, with about six per cent of the popular vote, making it the third-largest political party in the pro-democracy camp and sixth largest in the legislature.

It suffered a big loss in the

New Territories East. Cheung resigned in November 2020 together with 14 legislators of the pro-democratic camp, in protest over the disqualification of four other members of that camp by the Hong Kong government.^[1]

Beliefs

The Labour Party positions itself as a

universal suffrage, legislation of competition law and maximum weekly working hours, rehabilitate the Tiananmen protests of 1989 and stands against the legislation of Article 23.^[2]

The Labour Party was the first major party to adopt a policy of supporting laws to prohibit discrimination against the LGBT community.^[3]

History

The idea of establishing a pro-labour party first emerged in the 1990s, when four pro-labour

pro-democracy legislators, Lau Chin-shek and Lee Cheuk-yan from the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU), Leung Yiu-chung from the Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre (NWSC) and Tsang Kin-shing from the Democratic Party

set up a joint office in preparation of the labour party, but the idea did not realise at last.

In early 2011, Lee Cheuk-yan expressed interest in forming a new labour party, and discussed the details with legislators Leung Yiu-chung,

ethnic minorities and environmental issues in the coming 2012 Legislative Council election

.

The Labour Party was officially founded on 18 December 2011. The New World First Bus Company Staff Union, the KMB Staff Union and the Hong Kong Buildings Management And Security Workers General Union under the CTU and Civic Act-up joined the party as affiliated groups. The NWSC vetoed the motion of joining the Labour Party. A 20-strong Executive Committee was elected with CTU General Secretary Lee Cheuk-yan was elected unopposed by 131 founding members, while Cyd Ho, Fernando Cheung and Yeung Ho-yan became the Vice-Chairmen, Cheung Kwok-che the Senate chairman, and Tam Chun-yin the General Secretary.

The party filled three lists in the

New Territories East. The party secured four seats with all the lists elected and Cheung Kwok-che returned through the Social Welfare functional constituency. It became the third largest pro-democracy party in the legislature, behind the Democratic Party and the Civic Party

.

The party gained its first seat at the district level in the San Fu by-election in 2015. In the 2015 District Council election, the party filled in 12 candidates, of which three were elected. On 13 December 2015, the Labour chairman Lee Cheuk-yan stepped down and three candidates, Kwok Wing-kin, Cheng Sze-lut and Suzanne Wu ran for the chairmanship. Suzanne Wu of the Association for the Advancement of Feminism won the election in the end and became the new chairwoman.^[4]

The Labour suffered a major defeat in the

Kowloon East

and pulled out from the race in the last days resigned for the election results.

In August 2017, chairwoman Suzanne Wu resigned and quit the party over an internal rift with veteran member Cyd Ho, who also resigned from all party offices as a result.^[5] Vice-chairman Kwok Wing-kin was elected the new chairman in an intra-party election in November 2017.^[6]

Performance in elections

Legislative Council elections

Election	Number of popular votes	% of popular votes	GC seats	FC seats	EC seats	Total seats	+/−	Position
2012	112,140	6.19	3	1		4 / 70	1	6th
2016	101,860	4.70	1	0		1 / 70	3	10th
2021	Did not contest		0	0	0	0 / 90	0	N/A

District Council elections

Election	Number of popular votes	% of popular votes	Total elected seats	+/−
2015	23,029	1.59	3 / 431	2
2019	28,036	0.96	7 / 452	4

Leadership

Chairmen

Lee Cheuk-yan, 2011–2015
Suzanne Wu, 2015–2017
- Chiu Shi-shun, acting 2017
Kwok Wing-kin, 2017–present

Vice Chairmen (External Affairs)

Cheng Sze-lut, 2011–2015
Lee Cheuk-yan, 2015–present

Vice Chairmen (Party Affairs)

Tam Chun-yin, 2011–2015
Chiu Shi-shun, 2015–2017
Tam Leung-ying, 2017–present

Vice Chairmen (Policy)

Fernando Cheung, 2011–2015
Kwok Wing-kin, 2015–2017
Mak Tak-ching, 2017–present

General Secretaries

Kwok Wing-kin, 2011–2015
Tam Chun-yin, 2015–2017
Lee Man-fung, 2017–present

References

^ Clennett, Britt; Yiu, Karson (12 November 2020). "Pro-democracy lawmakers resign in Hong Kong's 'darkest day ... so far'". ABC News. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
^ "This City is Dying 工黨誕生打破財團壟斷突破政治操控". Apple Daily (Hong Kong). 19 December 2011.
^ "Policy Statement – Human Rights (政策綱領人權)". 19 December 2011.
^ "袁彌明中學同學胡穗珊任工黨新主席". Apple Daily. 13 December 2015.
^ "Hong Kong Labour Party chair makes surprise departure over internal disagreement". South China Morning Post. 23 August 2017.
^ "Dead end for Hong Kong democracy, so focus on social policies now, new Labour Party head says". South China Morning Post. 20 November 2017.

External links

[1] Clennett, Britt; Yiu, Karson (12 November 2020). "Pro-democracy lawmakers resign in Hong Kong's 'darkest day ... so far'". ABC News. Retrieved 22 January 2021.

[2] "This City is Dying 工黨誕生打破財團壟斷突破政治操控". Apple Daily (Hong Kong). 19 December 2011.

[3] "Policy Statement – Human Rights (政策綱領人權)". 19 December 2011.

[4] "袁彌明中學同學胡穗珊任工黨新主席". Apple Daily. 13 December 2015.

[5] "Hong Kong Labour Party chair makes surprise departure over internal disagreement". South China Morning Post. 23 August 2017.

[6] "Dead end for Hong Kong democracy, so focus on social policies now, new Labour Party head says". South China Morning Post. 20 November 2017.

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