Hong Kong Social Workers' General Union (HKSWGU) is a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

for the

social workers Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. It was established in 1980. The current president, Cheung Kwok-che is the member in the

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong ...

. It is one of the trade unions in pro-democratic

Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) was a pro-democracy labour and political group in the Hong Kong. It was established on 29 July 1990. It had 160,000 members in 61 affiliates (mainly trade unions in various sectors) and rep ...

History

The SWGU was founded in 1980 after the movement demanded the government to take efforts to resettle the

boat people Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...

in Yaumatei's harbour. Many social workers supported the affected residents and were arrested under the

Public Order Ordinance The Public Order Ordinance () () (’POO’) is a piece of primary legislation in Hong Kong. It codifies a number of old common law public order offences. It imposes notification requirements for public processions and meetings which resemble a ...

in 1979. The social workers leading the movement felt constrained by their official organisation, the Hong Kong Social Workers' Association because it worked cooperatively with the government and did not approve of activists' involvement with the movement. After the incident a group of social workers united and formed the SWGU on 4 May 1980. Together with the

Hong Kong People's Council on Public Housing Policy The Hong Kong People's Council on Public Housing Policy (; HKPCHP), formerly called the Hong Kong People's Council on Public Housing Policy (), was a Hong Kong pressure group established in 1978 and was prominent in the 1970s and 80s. It was set ...

, the

Society for Community Organization The Society for Community Organization (SoCO) () is a non-governmental and human rights advocacy group in Hong Kong. The group was founded in 1971 by church members. It is also financially supported by donations from various churches, overseas f ...

, the

Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee The Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee ( Chinese: 香港基督教工業委員會, also called as HKCIC) is a non-governmental pressure group that focuses on labor welfare policy and industrial safety. The group was founded in 1966, original ...

, the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, and the

Hong Kong Federation of Students The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS, or 學聯) is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four sc ...

, the pressure groups became the backbone of the civil movements in the 1980s, including against bus fares increases in 1980 to 1981, curbing increases in public utility charges in 1983, and shelving the construction of the

Daya Bay Nuclear Plant Daya Nuclear Power Plant () is a nuclear power plant located in Daya Bay in Longgang District, along the eastern extremity of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; and to the north east of Hong Kong. Daya Bay has two 944 MWe PWR nuclear reactors bas ...

in 1986. In the 2004 LegCo elections, Cheung Kwok-che, President of SWGU successfully gained a seat in the

Social Welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ...

functional constituency A functional constituency is an electoral device (a non-geographical constituency) used within the political systems of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China: * Functional constituency (Hong Kong) * Functional cons ...

. In 2012 Cheung co-founded the Labour Party with the

Lee Cheuk-yan Lee Cheuk-yan (; born 12 February 1957 in Shanghai) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1995 to 2016, when he lost his seat. He represented the Kowloon West and the Manufac ...

, General Secretary of the

, SWGU's head union.

References

{{Trade unions in Hong Kong navbox 1980 establishments in Hong Kong Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions Member organisations of the Civil Human Rights Front Organizations established in 1980 Social care in Hong Kong Social workers' associations in Hong Kong Trade unions in Hong Kong