Hong Kong University of Science and Technology lecturers plan to form a union after discovering they are the only university without one. Some are angry they do not have a representative body although the university has been operating for nine years. The lack of an association means they do not have a representative on the University Court - the advisory body. Staff will meet today to discuss ways to hasten the formation of a union. They hope to submit the proposal to the university's full council, which meets next week. A social club was set up in 1992, but some staff are not satisfied because it mainly offers leisure activities instead of playing a union role. 'It is a leisure group organising carnivals and fun days,' one lecturer said. 'But what we want is a union which can represent us and reflect our views to the university's administrators.' The statutes of the university state that the court shall include ex officio members, one of whom shall be the head of the staff association. Michael Tang Wing-choi, chairman of the Social Club which now has about 200 members, admitted it might seem inferior. 'But we think it's about time to change and rename our association,' he said. 'We endorsed a plan in our last annual general meeting that we should rename it as the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's Staff Association.' A university spokesman said the function of the social club was not the same as a staff association. It welcomed the idea of setting up such an association but everything depended on staff, he said.
