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5 Bureaucratic Insurgency: The Public Sector Labour Movement David A. Levin and Stephen Wing Kai Chiu • Introductio n During the 1970s a trade union growth wave, marked by a continuous increase in the number of unions and union membership, surged through Hong Kong's public sector. This wave persisted into the 1980s and 1990s. Associated with it was collective protest by some unions in the form o f wall posters, petitions, marches to Government House, and work-to-rule actions over the employment policies and practices of government, a phenomenon which can be described as 'bureaucratic insurgency 7 .1 The academi c writings abou t thi s public secto r union growt h wav e have focused mainly on the period up to the early 1980s. 2 We will review what has happened t o the public secto r unio n movemen t sinc e then , an d in doing so intend to contribute to the understanding of how and why this public secto r union growth wave and its associated insurgency developed and persisted under British colonia l rule. Previous writers have located the causes of this growt h wave in the institutional framewor k o f staff relations , stressin g in particular the rol e of the civil servic e consultative machiner y an d the restructuring of salary scales in the early 1970s . We agree that this institutional framework i s an important influenc e on the generation and persistence of the growth wave. We argue however that it is only a part of a more extensive ensemble of structures that imping e on the public sector employment relationship . These structure s include the internal organizational features of the public sector as well as the external political framework withi n which the public sector is embedded. 140 Davi d A. Levin and Stephen Wing Kai Chiu We refer t o thi s ensembl e o f structure s tha t regulate s th e behaviour an d interactions o f bot h managemen t an d employee s i n th e public secto r a s th e governance system. 3 We elaborate below o n some features o f the governanc e system and how they can influence the industrial relations behaviour of public sector actors. In doing so, we do not assume there is a direct causal relationship between th e governance syste m an d collective action . While the governanc e system impose s constraint s o n social actors, it als o allows scop e for choice s among alternative line s o f action within thes e constraints.4 Makin g sense of these choices requires taking into account not only the context of social action but also the stock of intangible resources available to social actors. These include the ideas, knowledge and perceptions that shape actors' demands and choices. In other words, as new social movement theorists argue, we need to bring culture back in to understand the meanings of the public sector growth wave.5 The first sectio n below notes some of the problems in defining the public sector and who public sector employees are. We then outline what we consider to be some of the distinctive features of the public sector as a site for collective employee organization and action. The second section reviews the development and impact of the public sector union growth wave from 196 8 to the late 1970s. The thir d sectio n describe s variou s dimension s o f th e publi c secto r unio n movement sinc e th e earl y 1980s . Th e fourt h sectio n turn s t o thre e case s involving proposed changes to the governance syste m and how public secto r unions reacted to these proposals. The final section highlights the interactiv e effects of the governance system and the public sector union movement and its significance from the perspective of social movement theory. We end with brief comments o n th e futur e o f publi c secto r unionis m unde r th e post-199 7 government. • Th e Public Sector The simplest way of defining the public sector is to equate it with all branches, departments and agencies administered by the Hong Kong government, including for exampl e medica l an d healt h services , public works , urba n cleansin g an d public health, education, fire services and the police force.6 The 'Public...

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