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SCMP

This article was first published on November 29, 1989
By Jimmy Leung
CMB drivers on 4-hour strike
The 1,700 drivers for the China Motor Bus Company are this morning, Wednesday November 29, 1989, staging Hong Kong’s first transport strike in 20 years to press for better retirement benefits.
The drivers and other staff overruled proposals by officials of the left-wing Motor Transport Union (CMB branch) for an emergency meeting next Friday and voted not to take their buses out of their depots until 10am today.
The transport commissioner, Gordon Siu Kwing-chue, early this morning held an emergency meeting and at 1.45am announced plans to deal with expected traffic chaos on Hong Kong Island.
The worst hit area is expected to be Southern district where 237,900 residents not served by the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) or minibuses rely heavily on CMB services.
The Transport Department statement said red minibuses, which were normally not allowed to run in the Southern district, could do so on residential estates. Services operated by the MTR, trams, the Peak Tram, green minibuses and ferries will be increased.
The statement appealed to the public not to make non-essential journeys, and stressed that parking restrictions would not be lifted.

The MTR announced that rush-hour trains on the Island Line will run at 2-minute intervals instead of 2½ minutes. The Education Bureau announced that all schools on Hong Kong Island would be closed for the morning sessions and that students travelling to Kowloon side need not attend in the morning.
The CMB staff called the four-hour strike after talks with the management broke down last night. The stoppage is the first since the 1966-67 disturbances, sparked off by the Cultural Revolution in China, when most of the CMB drivers went to the mainland in protest against the Hong Kong British administration.
Siu, who became transport commissioner only recently, said he could not comment on the drivers’ action.
He had recently intervened in the dispute to persuade the CMB management to modify the new retirement scheme, averting an earlier plan to stage a three-hour strike on a Sunday morning.
Siu said last night: “I don’t think I will be involved for the second time. As I’ve no power to deal with labour disputes, I can’t intervene.”
Legislative councillor, Hui Yin-fat, last night called on the government to mediate in the dispute for the sake of public convenience. “I’m sympathetic with the CMB employees although their action inevitably will inconvenience the public.
“CMB management is handling the dispute poorly because while it has made a net profit of HK$59.63 million for the year ended June 30, there is a great difference in retirement benefits offered by it and its counterpart, the KMB,” Hui said.

He said the public would not mind if fares went up because the company had to give better retirement benefits to its staff.
“Perhaps the present problem reflects the difference between a Chinese family-run business and a modern firm using latest management skills,” Hui said.
A strongly-worded statement from the company said its modified pension scheme was aimed at looking after the older, long-serving workers.
“The company wants the workers to understand that the benefit they demand amounted to five times the benefit under the existing scheme and the company does not have the resources to meet such demands,” it said.
About 400 drivers gathered at CMB’s North Point headquarters from 4pm, although the meeting with the management was not scheduled to start until 6pm.
When union officials emerged from the fruitless talks at 9.25pm, they were immediately surrounded by hundreds of drivers demanding an urgent meeting to plan a course of action.
The drivers rejected a union proposal to hold the meeting on Friday, saying that was too late to show their anger. Scuffles occurred at the depot when militant drivers attempted to snatch the loudspeakers to vent their displeasure.

“We are extremely dissatisfied with the company’s model because 99 per cent of the staff cannot benefit from it,” said union office-bearer Tong Chiu-yin.
The union agreed to call an immediate mass meeting, but moved the venue to the nearby Shu Kuk Street workers’ hall.
Police were forced to hold up traffic on King’s Road as the drivers marched to the hall. During the tense meeting, the union proposed to bring forward the emergency meeting to tomorrow but this was immediately opposed by the drivers.
Tong said the drivers needed to work out their next course of action while trying to seek public sympathy for their demands.
However, an unidentified driver suddenly interrupted and said: “Does it mean that when we retire the people of Hong Kong will each give us a dollar?”
“Of course no, no,” chanted the crowd.
Tong and his colleague, Tang Waicheong, called for calm and agreed to urgent protest action. Tang said drivers would report for work but would not take their buses out until 10am.


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Hong Kong transport

Buses stopped at the North Point Ferry Pier bus terminal because of a strike staged by the drivers on November 29, 1989. Photo: SCMP

Traffic congestion on the Ap Lei Chau Bridge due to the strike. Photo: SCMP

Workers hung demonstration banners at the bus depot in North Point ahead of their strike. Photo: SCMP 

Bus drivers hold a meeting on November 28, 1989. Photo: SCMP

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Hong Kong’s then-chief executive Tung Chee-hwa shakes hand with Mickey Mouse at Government House in 1999. Photo: SCMP

Minnie and Mickey Mouse tour Hong Kong Government House in front of a Chinese national flag following the deal. Photo: David Wong

Five-year-old Michelle Cheung Ka-yan watches a Disney movie at a shop in Taikoo Shing. Photo: Robert Ng

Hong Kong’s then-chief executive Tung Chee-hwa (left) announces a deal had been done with The Walt Disney Company to build a theme park and resort complex in the city. Photo: David Wong

Hong Kong lays plans for new international airport at Chek Lap Kok – from the SCMP archive

Aerial view of the Hong Kong International Airport in Chek Lap Kok in June 1998. Photo: Foster + Partners

David Wilson speaks at a ceremony in Hong Kong on May 30, 1990. Photo: Wan Kam Yan

(From left) Graham Barnes, secretary for planning, environment and lands, David Ford, chief secretary, and Anson Chan Fang On-sang, secretary for economic services, at a press conference to announce details of Hong Kong’s port and airport development on October 1989. Photo: SCMP

A worker peers out from the skeleton construction of the central terminus for the airport railway in 1997. The airport-railway station and surrounding tunnels were finished in 1998. Photo: AFP

Hong Kong’s first MTR line opens to the public amid ‘chaos and kinks’ – from SCMP archive

The Shek Kip Mei Station crowded with passengers. The MTR Corporation’s Kwun Tong line, from Shek Kip Mei to Kwun Tong station, was opened on October 1, 1979. Photo: Yau Tin-kwai

Commuters climb over and under the turnstiles on the opening of the first stretch of the Mass Transit Railway in Shek Kip Mei. Photo: Yau Tin-kwai

Children getting into an MTR train at Kwun Tong station. Photo: Yau Tin-kwai

Governor Murray MacLehose attending the inauguration ceremony of the Mass Transit Railway service at Kwun Tong station. Photo: P.Y Tang

An MTR staff member examines a turnstile during the opening of The MTR Corporation’s Kwun Tong line. Photo: Yau Tin-kwai

An interior shot of an MTR train. The MTR Corporation’s Kwun Tong line, from Shek Kip Mei to Kwun Tong station, was opened on October 1, 1979. Photo: Yau Tin-kwai

MTR staff member examining a turnstile which swallowed a passenger’s ticket. Photo: Yau Tin-kwai

News

Hong Kong

35 years ago, Hong Kong’s CMB drivers held a four-hour strike to push for better retirement benefits


35 years ago, Hong Kong’s CMB drivers held a four-hour strike to push for better retirement benefits.


From our archives

On This Day | Hongkongers brace for disruption as CMB drivers go on strike in 1989 – from SCMP archive

35 years ago, Hong Kong’s CMB drivers held a four-hour strike to push for better retirement benefits

CMB drivers on 4-hour strike