When a Hong Kong tram workers strike descended into violence in 1949
- Their demands for a HK$3 increase in ‘High Cost of Living Allowance’ not met, the employees of Hongkong Tramways took to the streets
- The following days saw workers in a pitched battle with 200 police, with tear gas fired and 42 arrests
“Tram Workers – Request Made For More Pay,” ran a South China Morning Post headline on December 3, 1949. Of the two demands – an increase of HK$3 per day in the “High Cost of Living Allowance” and an additional month’s pay at the end of the year – only the second was granted.
In response, “[Hongkong Tramways] workers intimated that they would send an ultimatum on Wednesday [December 21] and be ready to strike, if no answer had by then been received.”
Despite meeting on December 21, the management and employees were unable to resolve the impasse, leading the workers to take matters into their own hands.
“After a quiet four-day period, in which the public took full advantage of the tram workers’ invitation to travel at the Company’s expense, the Hongkong Tramways Ltd. yesterday took decisive action by summarily dismissing all conductors for failure to collect fares,” the Post reported on December 29, adding all tram services had ceased.
“Immediate reaction to the Company’s new move came from the mechanics and other non-affected employees. They repaired to their appointed posts but immediately started a ‘sit down’ strike.”
“Tram workers stage demonstration,” announced the Post on January 26, detailing how “thousands of men – many of them nothing to do with the tramways – had surrounded the [company’s headquarters] and were yelling their defiance up to officials of the Company […] By the time the police arrived, Russell Street was filled with men – and a few women and children, too – all of them excited and demonstrative.”