Hong Kong waste paper firms go on strike as new mainland rules threaten their survival
Week-long industrial action meant as ‘wake-up’ call to prompt government to negotiate with authorities across border over import restrictions
Hong Kong’s waste paper exporters warned of a wave of business closures in the next few months as they began a week-long strike on Friday over import restrictions in mainland China that have crippled their work.
Complaining that they were still waiting for their mainland buyers to get import permits, they urged the Hong Kong government to raise their concerns with authorities across the border.
That stark warning came as Environment Secretary Wong Kam-sing said the government’s contingency measures were enough to cope with a paper jam crisis, adding that officials had been talking to mainland authorities about the issue.
Jacky Lau Yiu-shing, director of the Recycle Materials and Re-production Business General Association, said: “We are extremely sorry about how this [industrial] action will affect the grass-roots collectors, but we promise that this will not last longer than a week.”
Lau said he hoped the strike would “be a wake-up call for the government to help us communicate with mainland authorities.”
