Towngas backs down after asking staff to sign anti-Occupy Central petition

Towngas did a rapid U-turn yesterday on collecting staff signatures against the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement.

Hours after staff reported department heads had distributed petition forms drawn up by the anti-Occupy group Alliance for Peace and Democracy to employees, the company said it had decided not to collect them.

This came after employees accused the public utility company of exerting undue pressure on them to sign the forms.

The pro-Beijing group wants to collect 800,000 signatures to outnumber the 787,000 people who voted in Occupy Central's unofficial referendum on electoral reform last month. Some mainland-owned firms and pro-Beijing groups have encouraged staff to sign the petition.

An employee who works at the Towngas head office in Quarry Bay said: "When other colleagues asked what would happen if we didn't submit the form, our superior only said we 'think too much'. I didn't think this would happen to me since I don't work for a mainland-owned company."

The employee said some colleagues protested by writing slogans in support of Occupy when submitting their forms unsigned.

"The department head later said it was not essential to return the form. Perhaps they changed their mind after the news was leaked to the media," the employee said.