Hong Kong court finds Dow Jones guilty of obstructing journalist from becoming union official
A court in Hong Kong has found Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, guilty of deliberately obstructing journalist Selina Cheng from exercising her right to hold office in a registered trade union. At the same time, the company was acquitted of a separate charge of unlawfully dismissing the journalist.
As Daily Maverick reports, Magistrate David Cheng ruled that in June 2024, Dow Jones deliberately prevented Cheng from exercising her right under Hong Kong’s Trade Unions Ordinance to become an officer of a registered trade union.
Participation in union elections
According to the court’s finding, the company required the journalist to obtain permission to stand for the post of chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association. The magistrate noted that the company would have refused such permission and stated that Cheng would not be able to remain an employee of Dow Jones if she took up the position.
Selina Cheng, who covered China’s automotive sector for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, was elected chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association in 2024. After the hearing, she said that her case had raised awareness of the suppression of trade unions in the city and that employers have no right to require employees to consult them before joining a trade union.
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Acquittal on dismissal charge
The second charge concerned the alleged unlawful termination of Cheng’s employment contract on July 17, 2024, because she exercised a trade union right. The court acquitted Dow Jones because it could not exclude beyond reasonable doubt that the dismissal was part of a genuine corporate restructuring.
Dow Jones pleaded not guilty to both charges and said it disagreed with the court’s ruling and was assessing further steps. Each charge carries a maximum fine of 100,000 Hong Kong dollars, or $12,750; sentencing will take place later.
In 2024, The Wall Street Journal announced changes to its Asian operations which, according to the publication, shifted the center of its regional work from Hong Kong to Singapore. At the time, the newspaper said that some of its employees, mainly in Hong Kong, would leave the company.
