Hong Kong Workers Flock to Labor Unions as New Protest Tactic

Protesters queue up at a booth of Hong Kong Construction and Engineering Employees General Union to apply for membership during pro-democracy protests on New Year's Day, to call for better governance and democratic reforms in Hong Kong, China, on Jan. 1, 2020. Tyrone Siu/Reuters

HONG KONG—Before the Hong Kong protests began in June, Chris Ngai spent most of his free time playing World of Warcraft and finding new cocktail recipes. Now the bespectacled 24-year-old junior engineer is launching a trade union.

His aim is to ramp up pressure on Hong Kong’s government, which has so far made no political concessions to protesters’ demands for greater democracy in the Chinese-ruled city, despite millions of people marching in the street.