Leung Fong

In the early years, the making of a garment in the factories was broadly divided into several sections, for example, a section sewing the body of a shirt and another section sewing the collars. Apart from sewing, the major work steps were cutting and ironing. Later, the Li Wah Man Garment Factory introduced a fine division of labour by work steps, so that sewing a collar was divided into several departments each specializing on a small part of sewing the collars. Because of this fine division of labour, the work nature of a garment worker became monotonous and the wage level of each step could be reduced. In general, the wage rate was limited to 20 to 30 cents per piece of clothes.  With the advancement of production equipment, the lead time for production became shorter and the cost was also reduced. 

After Lee Wa Man launched their reform, other garment factories followed suit and started the division of procedures.  Among those were Yangtzekiang Garment Ltd., Jan Sin Mee Garments Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and Smart Shirts.  Leung pointed out that the garment industry was most prosperous from the 1970s to 1980s, during which time even housewives and the elderly could earn extra income by sewing clothes and cutting threads at home.  The factories would send someone to collect the finished garment from the workers. 
With the booming real estate sector in Hong Kong, factories and building rents increased.  It became difficult for many garment factories to operate in Hong Kong.  Coupled with new restrictions imposed on exports in Hong Kong, small factories sometimes needed to purchase quota from larger counterparts and must be able to produce no less than the specified volume of garments annually under the requirement of the quota system.  Thus in end of the 1980s, a lot of garment factories moved to Mainland China, mainly around the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong.  Others moved to Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other countries, using former British Army barracks as their factory sites.  Although there were no export restrictions in those places, material resources were in short supply.  Therefore, the factories regularly sent people to buy raw materials in Hong Kong.  A lot of people acquired old sewing machines in those days.  Leung Fong had a close friend who once went to these underdeveloped countries to work as foreman and to teach local workers there the skills of making garments.  They did not have much time for rest.  In their leisure time, they would only go fishing or swimming.

In those years, Winner rented the whole of the 10th floor of a building on San Ma Tau Street as its factory premise, with a total area of more than 10,000 square feet.  At that time, there were two industrial buildings on San Ma Tau Street.  One of them has now been converted into a commercial building with a garage on the ground floor for repairing motor vehicles. There was several cotton mills in the areas near to  San Ma Tau Street and Thirteen Streets in To Kwa Wan.  There were also factories near Hoi Sham Temple.  Those on Yuk Yat Street primarily were plastic and garment factories.  Winner was opposite to today’s Wyler Garden, which was also a cotton mill before it was redeveloped.  Other floors in Winner’s building were mostly occupied by cotton mills.   The spinners in the mills always made the whole building shake.  Cotton threads also flew in the air throughout the building.  Fortunately, air conditioners were installed at Winner and windows were closed during work hours. 

One of the floors was the canteen managed by Shanghaiese people.  The workshop of Winner was square (spacious and nice).  Straight into the doorway was the production shopfloor.  The office and workers’ lounge were on the left and right sides.  Workers could have their lunch in the lounge.  Winner’s plant was clean and tidy, and was equipped with large air conditioners.  (Editor's note: The air conditioners mentioned here should be called "Industrial fan” – a type of air conditioner used specifically by garment factories.)  Winner was divided into several departments, responsible for ironing, cutting respectively.  The remaining space was installed with rows of sewing machines.   Leung Fong was initially responsible for making collars, and later was transferred to work at the product sample room.  When pieces of garment were finished, they were handed to the ironing department, counted, and put into wooden boxes.  The wooden boxes were later replaced by cardboard boxes.

Most workers of Winner went to work by bus and they arrived at the factory at different times. Hence the factory did not have one definite start time for work. They must record the time they came in by ‘punching cards’ before going into the workshop.  To make all workers work within the same working hours, the factory hired shuttle bus from Yam Sik Ng Motor Company to take workers to work.  The workers had to pay bus fare when they got on the shuttle bus.  The shuttle buses were originally a cargo vehicle with a carriage at the back. It was converted into a shuttle bus by fixing a row of wooden seats along each side of the carriage with a canvas cover on the top.  At that time, there were routes running through Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po, with only one or two stations in each district.  The bus arrived at the stops very punctual, and the workers did not have to wait too long for the bus.
 
To encourage workers to go to work on time, the factory introduced the attendance bonus, which was calculated once in every 15 days.  A worker would receive a day's wage as incentive if he or she had not been late in that 15 days’ period.  If workers were never absent, did not take annual leave, and went to work punctually every day, the factory would award them with another annual prize.  Leung Fong pointed out that this was a management method that the boss introduced from Shanghai.  Under this bonus system, workers were very eager to get on the bus and check in for work on time.  If the company's shuttle bus was late and the workers failed to arrive on time, the security guards of the plant would truthfully write the reason on their attendance cards.  For workers living in To Kwa Wan, they seldom took the shuttle bus.
Leung Fong pointed out that the garment factory had always been dominated by female workers; the union members were also mostly female.  The male workers were responsible chiefly for cutting and ironing.  There was a type of "developmental workers", which refers basically to workers in training, who took salaried work at different departments every day to learn a variety of garment-making skills.  Upon finishing training, they would be assigned to one of the departments.  Leung Fong said there was not much choice of entertainment for workers then.  Most people went home after work, while some would join the union and participate in dancing, calligraphy and other group activities.

Winner was divided into many departments.  Those who worked in the office were accounts clerks.  Leung Fong was hired on a piecework basis and got paid every 15 days.  When getting payment, the workers had to give a small ticket to the accounts department.  The tickets listed the quantity of garment produced and the workers’ respective departments.  In the past, the accounts clerks were also responsible for the purchase of production materials, such as needles, thread, buttons, and also the packaging of products into carton boxes.  Today, these tasks are taken care of by specialists.  If workers wanted to voice out their comments, they could talk to the factory manager.  The boss seldom stayed at the factory.  Winner boss's office was in the HSBC building in Mongkok.  According to Leung Fong, the general manager and factory head were mostly local Hong Kong people, but some were Shanghaiese people in some cases.

Leung Fong said that the workers had their lunch in several ways.  The factory supplied food and delivered meals to the factory for the workers.  A space similar to a pantry was created inside the plant where workers could use their lunch.  In addition, a restaurant in Ming Lun Street rented a floor in a building to run it as a canteen.  Leung Fong would go there at noon with fellow workers for lunch.  The restaurant offered a monthly meal plan, charging around $1.21 per meal.  (Editor's note: Leung Fong said six workers would go to consume the meal set for 5 persons in order to save money.)  A bowl of beef rice cost eighty to ninety cents in those days.  Every time the workers planned to go to the restaurant, they had to inform the restaurant of the number of people to be served beforehand, so that the caterers could prepare sufficient food for the customers.  Usually, five to six people shared a table.  Due to a shortage of space, single persons were not welcome.

The workers had another choice: they could eat in the lounge inside the textile factory in Winner’s building, which would be turned into a canteen during lunch time.  The canteen was run by a subcontractor.  If there were vacant seats, the canteen also received workers outside of the textile factory.  Sometimes, Leung Fong and fellow workers went out together for lunch; they usually had home-style dishes.  The textile union also ran a canteen in a rental unit on Kowloon City Road.  Workers enjoyed the meals by tickets they bought from the unions.  Leung Fong pointed out that a lot of unions and even government departments set up their own canteens.  The union notified workers through The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, so that the workers would know where to go to find the canteens.

Leung Fong thought that the facilities in the garment factory did not have much care about the workers.  The factory was concerned about production, and factory space was generally used for storing goods and fuel, with little space for workers to take rest.  Leung Fong thought that the conditions of hygiene and environment in smaller factories were even poorer.  The conditions in large factories were better because they were generally established in newer buildings and had better management.  Winner was a medium-size factory, which had a better workshop environment than the other smaller factories.  Small factories were packed with miscellaneous goods untidily, and the products were sometimes left on the sideways under the building’s balcony.  Leung Fong once worked at Sun Hing Garment Factory - a subsidiary of Winner - on Mok Cheong Street.  The factory environment was similar to that of Winner, only with wider roads that allowed clothes to be transported on pulling carts.  Sun Hing occupied the whole floor in an old factory building.  Other floors were occupied by cotton mills.  Old buildings had very narrow passages and staircases – which was very different from the condition of the new factory buildings.  Among the old buildings, only those that had more levels were equipped with a lift (cargo lifts).  Later, new factory buildings stood up along Yuk Yat Street but there was actually less usable space inside them. 

Before joining Winner, Leung Fong had worked in many places, such as Gennon Fashion Garment Manufactory.  Leung recalled that after arriving in Hong Kong in 1949, he once worked as a shop sales at a bookstore.  Through the introduction of a friend, he joined the garment industry and went through a three-year apprenticeship at Kam Fei Ma Garment Factory.  The plant, occupying less than a floor in an old factory building, was a small factory and had over 20 sewing machines.  Leung worked for Winner for more than four years, and resigned shortly after the factory moved to Castle Peak Road in 1967.  The premise on San Ma Tau Street was not owned by Winner’s boss, who however owned the premise on Castle Peak Road.  Therefore, the factory finally moved to Castle Peak Road.

Leung Fong said that whether garment workers would change jobs depended on the work environment.  Take Winner Garment Factory as an example, some of the workers who lived close to the plant were less likely to change jobs, but those who lived far or who believed other factories might offer better benefits would prefer to change jobs.  At that time, the mobility of garment workers was very high.  Sometimes a good number of workers left a garment factory at the same time. Leung Fong said changing jobs was not too difficult.  When the person in charge of a plant had to recruit new workers, they would spread the words out about the number of people wanted.  Workers who had information about the conditions of another factory had the most chance to change jobs.  Sometimes they did not even need the help of their fellow townsmen and would immediately take up the new job as long as they made up their mind.  The workers did not have to go through any tests.  Only Japanese-owned factories were more stringent and would ask interviewees to write on the blackboard with chalks, an exercise to test out whether they got quick and dexterous hands.

Along with the several waves of transformation within the garment industry over the years, the union for garment workers had changed its name several times.  Originally, it was called "Undergarment Workers Union".  Leung Fong explained that undergarment was generally misunderstood as underwear. As westerners always put on suits on the top layer, the clothes under the suits were named as “undergarment”. Actually undergarments mean all kinds of clothes except suits and jackets. Later on, the union was renamed "Sewing Trade Unions" and then "Garment Trade Union".  Eventually, it becomes the present "Garment Fashion Practitioners’ Association".  (Editor's note: The union was established in 1939, initially named “Hong Kong and Kowloon Undergarment Workers Union”.  It was modified into “Hong Kong and Kowloon Sewers Union” in 1973； “Garment-Making Trade Workers Union” in 1985 and “Garment Fashion Practitioners’ Association” in 2009.  Any manufacturing workers of shirts, trousers, shoes, buttons etc. were qualified to join this union.)  There were also a union for the fashion industry.  In the past, there were many unions, such as sewers’ union, western fashion union, and foreign fashion union – all are now merged into "Hong Kong Wearing Apparel Industry Employees General Union” located on Nathan Road.   

The union at that time (Editor's note: Hong Kong and Kowloon Undergarment Workers Union) had an office on Boundary Street (near Prince Edward Road).  It later moved to a new site on Choi Hung Road today.  When the union was on Boundary Street, it already had branches in San Po Kong and Lai King.  Leung Fong said the branches were not easy to set up because of the difficulty in finding the right venues and they couldn’t afford to find regular staff to manage the office.  Funds were also insufficient because the membership dues were small.  Even today, the membership due is just $50 for one year.  Leung was a union member back then when he worked for Winner and has been a member of the union for more than 50 years.  After Leung became a union officer, he helped to collect membership dues from his fellow workers and hold activities for them.  He worked jointly with several other officers to collect membership dues from factories, and sometimes visited the workers’ home based on a records of payments by members’ .  Trade unions also arranged the sales of Chinese New Year supplies.  When the stock arrived at the union, Leung and his colleagues would bring it back home and then carry them to the factory the next day to sell them to the workers.  Later, when Chinese Products Emporiums gained popularity in Hong Kong, many workers no longer bought supplies from the union.  Today, the union was not engaged in such activity anymore.

According to Leung Fong, a lot of garment factory workers were union members but not all of them joined the union through him.  Nearby factories, such as Wearbest Garment Factory and Sun Kwong Garment Factory, also had many union members.  Each factory had their own liaison person.  Most garment factory organised their own workers’ activities.  As the union was not familiar with the internal dynamics of a factory, it seldom stepped into the factory for union matters.  Only when members had disputes with the factories or negotiations with the boss were not successful would the union provide assistance.  The union office was not a large premise and could not accommodate too many people at one time.  Union activities such as Cantonese opera and dances were held on the temporary rooftop.  (Editor's note: The union had a chairman, a deputy chairman, and officers for union organisation, promotion and education, women’s affairs, finance, welfare and so on.  Leung Fong has held a number of positions.)

When Leung was working at Winner, there were several disputes between the workers and the factory.  Winner’s daily paid workers had an average income of about $18 (per day or per month?), whereas Leung Fong and other piecework employees were paid every 15 days.  At that time, the major manufacturers communicated with each other so that the prices for similar products and worker’s wages were roughly the same.  At that time, Winner intended to cut the workers’ wages and there were exploitative practices in various departments.  The number of sewing workers was also reduced.  These affected the whole factory and the workers  organised themselves to negotiate for a pay rise with the factory owner.   Leung represented the workers in the negotiation. In some cases workers were able to gain victory but in other cases they failed.  However, if the factory were insistive to go for their plans, the workers could only passively accept the reality.  The success of the negotiations depended to a large extent on who represented the factory to negotiate with the workers.  The factory was managed by factory head.  There was also a lower-rank supervisor who took charge of general affairs.  The departments, such as the buttoning department, also had their own heads.  They were the leaders that the union would meet for wage negotiation.  Sometimes the union encountered stubborn representatives who were loyal to the factory owner.  Under this circumstance, it would be difficult to find solution through negotiation and sometimes the union would call a strike.

During the strike, the workers would continue going to the factory, but they would stop working and gather  at the lounge at the times specified by the union.  However, Leung Fong pointed out that if the factory owner insisted on their decision, the workers usually quit the job rather than committed to more radical protests.  For some workers who had not been union members, they would be convinced to join the union.  If they were unwilling to, no one would force them to take part in the strikes or other organised activities.  Although workers would not be fired after a strike, the factory would find different ways to give them pressure or pick on them.  Leung Fong cited an example: once he took a week’s leave to return to his home town.  He had planned to get back to work the next Monday.  Later he found out that the factory intended to fire him if he failed to turn up on that Monday.  He thought that this was the oppression the factory imposed on its workers.  Leung Fong pointed out that the Chinese-owned factories were more humanistic, while the Japanese-owned factories were more stringent in management.  For example, Castle Peak Garment Factory’s workers had once experienced a violent confrontation with the factory.  (Editor's note: Leung Fong added that during the 1967 riots, there were no workers’ protests in the factories in To Kwa Wan.  When there were worker’s strikes in San Po Kong,  Leung Fong and his fellow workers once went to San Po Kong in their spare time to support the other garment workers.)

Union members were associated by the union officers who worked in the same garment factories. It was not usual for union officers from other factories came to visit them in their factories. Occasionally workers from different factories might meet each other at lunch time if they came to have meals at union’s canteen. Therefore, the union officers had to go visit them at their homes.  Leung Fong remembers that when he made home visits, he had been to these districts:  Ma Tau Wai Village and Chun Seen Mei Chuen in To Kwa Wan,  Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po.  Most members lived in cubicle units, i.e. small compartmentalized units in an apartment of a few hundred square feet in size.  Each room had a bed, mostly bunk beds.  Some owners even made two cubicles on the balcony, dividing their apartment into five small cubicles, with two on the balcony and three in the inside.  Leung Fong recalled that the buildings he had visited have now been torn down and rebuilt.  At that time, the factory workers lived near the factory, e.g. around Thirteen Streets and Pak Tai Street in To Kwa Wan.  When it was necessary, the union would send officers of both sexes to do home visits.  During the visit, they made casual conversation about daily lives and their work in the factories.  Due to the shortage of manpower, the union usually visited the workers once every three months, sometimes once a year.  Now, the union kept in contact with its members by telephone. 

The office of Hong Kong and Kowloon Spinning Weaving and Dyeing Trade Workers General Union was in To Kwa Wan.  Other unions did not have an office.  Leung Fong pointed out that it was not easy to find a suitable place for offices in To Kwa Wan.  Most unions were concentrated on Nam Cheong Street and Cheung Sha Wan Road in Sham Shui Po.  When the unions had to find a place to hold activities, they seldom held it at the Workers’ Club of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions because it was not always available. 

The Hong Kong and Kowloon Spinning Weaving and Dyeing Trade Workers General Union also used its office as canteen.  Most members were there only to chat.  The union was not always able to find a suitable venue for holding its activities.  The union had organized entertainment events such as variety shows and musicals, and those who attended the events were mainly workers and their families.  The union as well as other unions sometimes hired the Ruby Theatre for film shows (Editor's note: the Ruby Theatre was opened on Ma Tau Chung Road in 1964 and closed in 1994), and the unions would sell movie tickets to the workers.  Leung Fong said there was not much conflict and hostility among unions of different affiliations.  Although there were right-wing unions in To Kwa Wan, they had no contact with the other unions and they were not influential among the workers.  There were no right-wing union workers at Winner either.  Compared with the garment industry, the textile industry had more disputes between workers and capitalists. For example, there had been a large-scale labour disputes in 1956 at Pao Hsing Textile Co.

Leung Fong said the environment of To Kwa Wan has always been poor.  Today, there are still a lot of old buildings.  Leung said the changes in To Kwa Wan were of smaller extent than what happened in Hung Hom.  The major change in Hung Hom was the reconstruction of Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock into the Whampoa Garden.   Other areas in fact did not change much, and a large part of the community was still packed with old buildings, similar to what it is like in To Kwa Wan.  Leung Fong sometimes went past by the Winner Garment Factory on San Ma Tau Street, but he does not have much feeling about it because he does not work there anymore.  Opposite to San Ma Tau Street is Kowloon City Ferry Pier which was quite busy in the old days.  A lot of people would take the ferry from there to Hong Kong Island to work.  Now, the ferry has stopped its service and there are just occasionally some passenger ferries crossing the harbour.  (Editor's note: Leung Fong never lived in To Kwa Wan, but he was working at To Kwa Wan’s Winner garment factory for four years.  In 1980, he was allocated a flat in Ka Wai Chuen, Hung Hom.  Before he retired, he went back to work at To Kwa Wan’s garment factory for a short time.)