Professional Teachers' Union disbanded after 48 years

Hong Kong’s largest teachers’ union - The Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union, announced on Tuesday that it had disbanded.

Union president Fung Wai-wah said the Executive Committee had unanimously endorsed the resolution, describing it as a “difficult, helpless, and heart-wrenching decision”.

“Over the years, close to half a decade, HKPTU, together with its members, and all the people in Hong Kong, have witnessed numerous historical moments. However, it is deplorable that the social and political environment has undergone very radical changes and we are forced to ponder for the future, particularly when the union is under immense pressure due to the drastic development recently,” said Fung.

The union also said it will have to lay off its 200 employees and they will be compensated according to their conditions of service and in compliance with local labor laws.

Fung said the union has the financial strength to cover all necessary costs needed for the layoffs, thanking the staff for their services over the years.

The union added that its three centers in Mong Kok, Causeway Bay, and Tsuen Wan will remain operational for now until all the goods have been sold, with the union’s medical centers also ending their services soon.

The group announced just last week that it was setting up a unit to help teachers understand Chinese history, culture and national affairs, a gesture that was widely seen as an olive branch to the authorities.

But Fung admitted that this approach did not work.

He also said that it would be up to members and the public to judge who is responsible for the union's demise.

Hong Kong’s Education Bureau earlier announced it will no longer recognize the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union,  after Chinese state mouthpieces Xinhua and People’s Daily called the union “a poisonous tumor” that must be “eradicated.”

The bureau in the statement said that although the union claims itself as a professional education organization, its speeches and behaviors in these recent years are not on the same path as education profession. 

The bureau said not only did the union proactively participate in events organized by Civil Human Rights Front and Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China In the past, but it also encouraged teachers to suspend classes and brought politics into schools.

The city’s second-largest teachers’ union, the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, has around 42,000 members, fewer than half of the HKPTU’s 95,000.

Founded in 1974 by late democracy icon Szeto Wah, the HKPTU is the largest trade union for a single profession in Hong Kong.

The union also enjoys a large fiscal reserve as it established a so-called welfare branch to sell essential and other goods to members at discounted prices, apart from maintaining a close relationship with its large number of members solely through profession-related activities.

The three shops in Mong Kok, Causeway Bay, and Tsuen Wan sold not only groceries and stationery but also books and home appliances.

The union also ran several health clinics, providing discounted medical check-ups and services in areas such as dental, optometry and physiotherapy for its members.