Coca-Cola’s Hong Kong plant has reinstated a truck driver fired over a traffic accident after some 180 workers staged a strike to protest what the union called his “unfair” dismissal.
Swire Coca-Cola agreed to a number of the union’s demands after a rare strike took place on Friday at the Sha Tin factory and a dialogue was held later that evening, according to a union statement.
The Swire Beverages (HK) Employees General Union then called off what would have been the second day of the strike and called on workers to resume their duties on Saturday.
The company agreed not to retaliate against the workers, but would deduct their pay for the time spent striking, the union said on Friday evening. The bottler also agreed to review its internal guidelines with transparency, conceding that they were unclear, and to designate a legal adviser to facilitate consultations with workers.
However, Swire did not cave in to the union’s demands that the company stop using in-vehicle cameras for surveillance purposes.
Swire, the fifth-largest Coca-Cola bottler worldwide, withdrew the dismissal of the truck driver who was fired on Thursday following an internal investigation into a traffic accident, which found that he did not wear a seatbelt while his truck reversed into a woman, injuring her.
Union officer Wan Pak-kin told HKFP during the strike on Friday that the worker, who is a union member, was not told which internal safety guidelines he had allegedly violated, nor was he given a chance to appeal against the findings or the decision to sack him.
Peace clause
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, Swire issued a statement, saying: “The union has agreed that its members will return to work,” without elaborating further.
According to the union’s statement on Friday evening, both sides have also agreed to a “peace clause” – a five-day notice period before union strikes are held again.
Addressing concerns that the “peace clause” would weaken future strikes, the union maintained that the five-day notice period would serve as a “buffer” during which the union could try to resolve disputes through negotiation, without the need to launch industrial action.
Peace clauses are not uncommon in collective bargaining agreements between major international corporations and trade unions around the world, the union added.
“A truly powerful union is not one that can strike at any time, but one whose employer knows that it can strike at any time and feels the need to resolve issues,” it said.
The Swire Beverages (HK) Employees General Union was formed in 1982, after a strike over a similar dismissal case ended in failure that year. ”Forty-two years later, we have a trade union, and we have succeeded in getting justice this time around,” the statement read.
In an earlier statement to the media on Friday evening, Swire Coca-Cola said that it held “open and constructive dialogues” with the union, which led to a mutual agreement to resolve the matters. “Moving forward, both parties will work together to promote and implement safety measures and training,” it said.
The Labour Department, which was at the scene during Friday’s strike to help with negotiations between the bottler and the union, said it hoped both parties could maintain good communication on future labour issues.
The union, which was part of the pro-democracy Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) until the coalition dissolved in 2021, has been officially recognised by Swire since October 2014, granting it bargaining rights with the company.
Strikes and open forms of protest have become rarer in Hong Kong since the Beijing-imposed national security law took effect in June 2020. Citywide strikes were a tactic adopted by protesters in 2019, when demonstrations and unrest erupted over a now-axed extradition bill.
