“…Building on this foundation, Hong Kong sociologists have explained the docility of Hong Kong workers by highlighting trade union structures -that is, small, fragmentary unions, and low trade union densities; the hostility of employers to consultation with unions; the political orientation of unions, notably allegiances to the Chinese communist party; and the impact of the colonial state on labor activism. Most of this work has explored the period from the 1980s which was characterised by de-industrialization (Ng & Lee, 2010;Snape & Chan, 1997). In the 1990s, in the absence of effective trade unions, and during some tough times for blue-collar workers, many working-class people 'suffered in silence' (Fosh et al, 1999, p. 18).…”