Hong Kong social workers fear losing jobs over political stance
Social workers in Hong Kong could lose their jobs because of their political stance if the industry's watchdog is dominated by pro-government members, a pro-democracy union warned yesterday.
To prevent that happening, members of the Social Workers' General Union are seeking to win all eight elected seats on the Social Workers Registration Board. Boasting the largest membership in the sector, the union represents about 1,000 of the city's 20,000 social workers.
The board is a statutory body responsible for registering social workers, renewing qualifications, dealing with disciplinary offences and reviewing qualification standards.
It comprises15 members, including the deputy director of social welfare, six members appointed by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and eight members elected by registered social workers.
The board's three-year term will expire in January, and 23 candidates are running for the elected seats. The three-week election period began last Friday and will finish on December 12.
"We are worried that the board could repeat what we saw in the University of Hong Kong's governing council in recent months … and that it could pose obstacles in our co-workers' career development," he said.
HKU was embroiled in a governance crisis after its council voted down liberal scholar Johannes Chan Man-mun's promotion to a top managerial job.
Chan was criticised by pro-Beijing newspapers for his relationship with fellow legal scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who co- founded the Occupy movement.
Tsang said many social workers had taken part in the Occupy protests and supported him after his arrest. He said he was worried about them as well as himself.
Under the board's rules, a person can register as a social worker after graduating from an accredited social work programme in a local tertiary institution.
But the board can disqualify a social worker if he or she has been found guilty of misconduct or a criminal offence and has gone through a disciplinary hearing.