Hong Kong’s largest teachers’ union officially dissolves after 53 years

2026-03-27 - 06:32

The pro-democracy Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union (HKPTU) has officially dissolved – nearly five years after it announced steps to disband. The Registry of Trade Unions gazetted on Friday that the HKPTU – the city’s largest teachers’ union – was dissolved on Monday, marking the end of the group’s half-century of history. Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union. File photo: Candice Chau/HKFP. As of Friday afternoon, the HKPTU’s website was no longer accessible. Once a prominent force in Hong Kong’s civil society and democratic movement, the 53-year-old union had over 95,000 members before its dissolution, representing 90 per cent of the profession. The disbandment took longer than expected. The HKPTU announced it would disband in August 2021, days after attacks by Chinese state media and the Education Bureau’s decision to cut ties with the union. Two years later, in November 2023, the group said it was set to complete its dissolution by the end of 2024 and distribute remaining funds to members, with each qualified member to receive HK$3,190. Local media reported that the union had sold its four properties: two service centres in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay, the general office in Mong Kok, and a property in San Po Kong, with the sales grossing around HK$420 million. Civil groups disbanded The HKPTU was founded in 1973 by the late school principal and pro-democracy activist Szeto Wah following protests and strikes over better pay for Hong Kong teachers. Szeto Wah. Photo: K-ideas via Flickr. Szeto was also the founder of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which for decades organised candlelight vigils to mark the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown in Beijing. The Alliance disbanded in September 2021, after the group and its leaders – Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan, and Albert Ho – were charged with allegedly “inciting subversion” under the national security law. Their trial is now under way. Since the onset of the Beijing-imposed national security law, Hong Kong has seen at least 60 civil society groups disbanded.