More than 200 government social workers aim to take a day off on Friday to protest against a mandatory registration system.
The Social Work Assistant Branch of the Chinese Civil Servants' Association, which represents 60 per cent of the 558 social work assistants in the Social Welfare Department, said they wanted to air their dissatisfaction with the system.
'It is misleading to say that you must be registered to the board to be a social worker. It is wrong,' union leader Lai Wing-shing said.
Mr Lai, a social worker for 27 years, challenged the authority of the registration board, saying it was nonsense to make social workers register to keep their jobs.
He ripped up the application form in front of officials last month.
'We feel angry that the department and the board keep pressuring us, the union,' he said.