{"id":243574,"date":"2025-02-21T06:26:28","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T06:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/21\/the-hong-kong-artist-who-got-fired-from-mcdonalds\/"},"modified":"2025-02-21T06:26:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T06:26:29","slug":"the-hong-kong-artist-who-got-fired-from-mcdonalds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/21\/the-hong-kong-artist-who-got-fired-from-mcdonalds\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hong Kong Artist Who Got Fired From McDonald\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/14\/multimedia\/00hongkong-artist-01-zjhl-promo\/00hongkong-artist-01-zjhl-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Hong Kong Artist Who Got Fired From McDonald\u2019s\" title=\"The Hong Kong Artist Who Got Fired From McDonald\u2019s\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On a recent eight-hour shift at a McDonald\u2019s in Hong Kong, Luke Ching, 52, wiped tables, cleared trays of half-eaten fries, emptied cups of soda and milk tea and lugged bulging trash bags to the dumpster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For him, the main goal of the part-time work was not making ends meet. It was research for his main pursuit: using art to advocate for better treatment of people in menial jobs in a city with one of the widest income gaps in the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That project came to an abrupt end last month when he was fired after publicly calling on McDonald\u2019s Hong Kong to reinstate paid meal breaks for employees at its local outlets. Undeterred, Mr. Ching is pushing ahead \u2014 even as the scope for broader political protest has shrunk in the city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMany people have accepted that they\u2019re not allowed to speak critically about their workplace. But employees don\u2019t exist just to drive profit,\u201d Mr. Ching said in an interview. \u201cWe have the right to express ourselves in public.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over the past two decades, his campaigns have cut across the worlds of art and activism, gaining him a wide following of supporters as well as some online detractors, who call him attention-seeking and gimmicky.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The workplace has been both muse and canvas as he has agitated for everything from stools for museum guards to more consideration for the people who clean the subway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hong Kong\u2019s minimum wage \u2014 about $5 an hour \u2014 <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfam.org.hk\/en\/blog\/Responding-to-myths-about-the-minimum-wage#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20a%20full%2Dtime,would%20have%20received%20through%20CSSA.\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">barely covers basic living costs<\/a>. There are no collective bargaining laws, and employers are <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/iclg.com\/practice-areas\/employment-and-labour-laws-and-regulations\/hong-kong\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">not legally obligated to recognize labor unions<\/a>, so relatively few do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Unions, nevertheless, had long been politically active, regularly joining demonstrations to pressure the local government. Such protests became more common as people in Hong Kong resisted what they saw as efforts to erode the \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basiclaw.gov.hk\/en\/basiclaw\/chapter1.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">high degree of autonom<\/a>y\u201d Chinese leaders had promised after Britain returned its former colony in 1997.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But a year of antigovernment protests, at times violent, led to a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/31\/world\/asia\/hong-kong-election-national-security-law.html\" title=\"\">crackdown by Beijing<\/a> in 2020 and the imposition of a national security law that has chilled dissent and led many activist <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/24\/world\/asia\/hong-kong-civil-society.html\" title=\"\">unions to disband<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some labor organizers in Hong Kong have been <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ifj.org\/media-centre\/news\/detail\/category\/press-releases\/article\/hong-kong-unionists-and-former-journalists-jailed-in-national-security-trial\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">convicted of violating the law<\/a> over their pro-democracy activism and sentenced to prison. Lee Cheuk Yan, a former lawmaker and labor champion, has been jailed since 2021 awaiting trial, and the government has offered a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/04\/world\/asia\/hong-kong-bounties-dissidents.html\" title=\"\">bounty for the arrest<\/a> of another such activist, Christopher Mung, who now lives in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, said that, on its own, labor activism is not likely to be seen by the Hong Kong government as a potential threat to national security, especially if it targets big companies rather than government bodies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe difficulty is that in Hong Kong, what you do and how it will be treated is not always as clear<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">,\u201d<\/em> he said. \u201cTherefore, people are becoming a lot more cautious about what they can and cannot say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Pressure continues to mount: The city on Wednesday proposed <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legco.gov.hk\/yr2025\/english\/panels\/mp\/papers\/mp20250224cb1-230-5-e.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">amendments<\/a> that would empower the government to reject new unions on national security grounds. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ching said that his activism has always focused on livelihood issues, and he does not think there\u2019s anything wrong or risky about what he does.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Things got tense at times during the Covid pandemic, he said, when authorities were cracking down on anything that might attract a crowd. Police searched and questioned him, he said, as he stood in a subway station wearing a garbage bag over his cleaner\u2019s uniform, with \u201cLowest pay. Highest risk. Least support\u201d written in tape.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The company that runs the subway, MTR, later increased its hourly pay for contract cleaners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ching has a master\u2019s degree in fine art from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and has participated in exhibitions and residencies around the world, including last year in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asianculturalcouncil.org\/about-acc\/stories\/a-conversation-with-luke-ching\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">New York<\/a>, where he collected cans and other recyclable items as part of an effort to realize \u201cthe artist as a citizen.\u201d Some of his work \u2014 video, photos and sculpture \u2014 is housed in the collections of museums including <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mplus.org.hk\/en\/collection\/makers\/luke-ching-chin-wai\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">M+ in Hong Kong<\/a> and the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/openeye.org.uk\/luke-ching-culture-shifts\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Open Eye Gallery<\/a> in Liverpool, England. His project \u201cUndercover Worker\u201d was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.visibleproject.org\/text-4\/luke-chings-undercover-worker\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">shortlisted for the Visible Award<\/a>, a prize for socially engaged artwork, in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For about a decade, he taught art part-time at his alma mater and at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, including a popular \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/ol.mingpao.com\/ldy\/cultureleisure\/culture\/20230226\/1677350033379\/%E5%89%B5%E6%84%8F%E5%85%AC%E6%B0%91-%E6%88%91%E5%80%91%E9%83%BDcosplay\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">creative citizen<\/a>\u201d course, where his students trained to become security guards and reported on their experiences. (His inspiration for community activism, he said, dates back to 2007, when people chained themselves together to try to save a historic ferry pier from demolition.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He set aside teaching last August and raised $25,700 in crowd-funded donations so that he could spend more time making art, working briefly at fast-food chains, a Chinese butcher shop and as a cleaner at Disneyland Hong Kong. Though he uses his real name, he said his managers usually were not aware of his activism and were more concerned with filling vacancies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While working at McDonald\u2019s, Mr. Ching, who is married with a teenage daughter, posted diarylike entries on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lukechinghk\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ching.c.wai.9\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>. To illustrate the repetitive toil during a typical shift<strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">,<\/strong><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em><\/strong>he tracked his step count and made images of himself picking up endless rows of half-emptied cups. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ching said he was drawn to study McDonald\u2019s because customers from all walks of life used it as a communal space, bringing to it a Hong Kong flair. At his former branch in the middle-class neighborhood of Tai Po, elderly regulars brought their own insulated mugs, newspapers and novels as they settled into their regular seats, refilling from the free hot water every so often.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ching said that he also admired how, like him, the CEO of McDonald\u2019s Hong Kong, Randy Lai, had spent several months working as a low-level employee. He brought up this experience in an open letter to her that was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/news.mingpao.com\/pns\/%E5%89%AF%E5%88%8A\/article\/20250119\/s00005\/1737216534011\/%E5%9C%96%E6%96%87%E5%9F%8E%E5%B8%82-%E7%B5%A6%E9%BA%A5%E7%95%B6%E5%8B%9Eceo%E7%9A%84cold-call%E4%BF%A1%EF%BC%88%E9%A3%AF%E9%90%98%E7%AF%87%EF%BC%89\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">published in the Hong Kong broadsheet<\/a> Ming Pao in January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou must know that without mealtime pay, countless colleagues return to work after a hasty meal or forgo their rest time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He was fired within weeks. Representatives for the company, owned by a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/retail-consumer\/citic-sell-stake-mcdonalds-china-hong-kong-business-4303-mln-2024-10-21\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Chinese private equity firm<\/a>, did not respond to requests from The New York Times<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em>for comment. A McDonald\u2019s spokesperson <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/hongkongfp.com\/2025\/01\/27\/hong-kong-artist-luke-ching-fired-by-mcdonalds-after-calling-for-mealtime-pay-to-be-reinstated\/#:~:text=McDonald's%20Hong%20Kong%20abolished%20a,hour%20of%20wages%20was%20deducted.\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">told local media<\/a> that Mr. Ching had leaked internal operational and commercial information, and that he had been advised against doing so. Mr. Ching denied those allegations, saying that he had merely shared his observations about his workplace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some observers say that as Mr. Ching\u2019s ambitions have broadened, his work has become less focused. Wong Wai Yin, an artist in Hong Kong who wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on Mr. Ching, said at times it was difficult to understand his goals at McDonald\u2019s \u2014 until he got fired.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere were many ketchup packets and selfies,\u201d Ms. Wong said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Wan Pak Kin, an organizer at the Catering and Hotels Industries Employees General Union, said Mr. Ching\u2019s tactics balanced out the more hard-line approach of traditional labor unions. \u201cHe knows how to find a middle ground between praise and criticism,\u201d Mr. Wan said. \u201cHe examines relationships and bonding among colleagues. He becomes part of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This month, Mr. Ching, Mr. Wan and three other organizers representing labor and environmental groups said they would form a coalition called the Alliance for My McDonald\u2019s. Wearing McDonald\u2019s party hats at a news conference, the organizers said they hoped to push McDonald\u2019s to pay attention to suggestions from both employees and the wider public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ching said he plans to spend more time on the front lines to campaign for small and meaningful changes and strengthen relationships among workers. \u201cI want the revolution to be in our daily work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/21\/world\/asia\/hong-kong-artist-workplace-activism.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a recent eight-hour shift at a McDonald\u2019s in Hong Kong, Luke Ching, 52, wiped tables, cleared trays of half-eaten fries, emptied cups of soda and milk tea and lugged bulging trash bags to the dumpster. For him, the main goal of the part-time work was not making ends meet. It was research for his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/14\/multimedia\/00hongkong-artist-01-zjhl-promo\/00hongkong-artist-01-zjhl-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18661,42291,43104,9281,801,14601,168646,802,169677,189308,1680,9495,163229,2067],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243576,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243574\/revisions\/243576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}