before and thereafter

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Before and Thereafter


Before and Thereafter
Music/Lyrics: Fan Yan
Vocal/Guitar/Recorder: Old B
Drum midi/Mixing: Chan Wai Fat

Without many hoor Before and Thereafter
Music/Lyrics: Fan Yan
Vocal/Guitar/Recorder: Old B
Drum midi/Mixing: Chan Wai Fat

Without many hoorays applauses ovations
A youth in prime ill spent for the rest of life, only half-fed
And how much worries and sorrows to toss behind the back of ones’ mind
Hand in hand we are today fearing not the fierce road ahead
Able we are to cry out boldly our rights
Arms in arms entwined before and thereafter

Despite losses and gains, our manly friendship never fades
Highest regards to all the hardships you have overcome
One cry resounded by a thousand others: hay ho hay ho
The forgotten soul in me now urges to sing
Labour has changed this harbour
Workers are heroes before and thereafter


to the bar bending workers


曲/詞/主唱: 凡人

沒有多少的歡呼聲 掌聲 稱頌
今天你我手牽手 不怕崎嶇前路
能做到 高聲呼喊權利
讓臂彎緊扣 從前以後

在那一聲呼千聲 唏 呵 唏 呵
勞動者是主角 從前以


香港基督徒學生運動執行幹事劉劍玲：紮鐵工人的歎息與吶喊 Can you hear the outcry from bar-benders? They are sighing and shouting!

















Can you hear the outcry from bar-benders? They are sighing and shouting! Bar-benders’ strike has come to the third week. We went to the building site on Tin Kwong Road in To Kwa Wan and collected their stories. ‘Bar benders, Heroes you are; No prosperity without you all.’ This is not only a slogan to support the bar-benders but also the truth. Without builders, there would be no place to live and no growing estate income. It is provoking that in such a prosperous city, bar-benders’ toil and contribution are not recognized and rewarded. Façade of prosperity Kai, the bar bender, told us that, the working condition has deteriorated considerably in the past ten years. The daily wage has decreased from $1200 by 2000 to $650 in the past few years and the working hours have increased by an hour, from 8 hours to 8.5. As a result, their monthly wage has dramatically dropped from $30,000 to around $11500. In 2003 to 2004, bar-benders were coaxed to have their wage cut down four times in order to tide over the struggling time with employers. Yet, the recent recovery of the economy does not seem to pay them back. Their wage remains unadjusted. Some media reported that the daily wage of bar benders was $850 a day and so the monthly wage could reach $20,000. Yet, that is just one side of the story.  The bar-benders are hired on two terms: one is daily labor and the other is long term daily labor. The wage of the former is $850 at most, but the job is unstable and workers are only employed during the peak time. The wage of the later is only $650. Although the job is relatively more stable, the bar-benders may face unemployment after the project has finished. The unstable and meager income has laid tremendous pressure on the bar benders and also their families, both financially and psychologically. Amid their shouts and cries, we have to ask whether the bar-benders, as well as other grass-root citizens, are given a share from the fruit of prosperity.  Helpless hand from the Government  Besides the wage problem, bar benders are also facing many other injustices.  Workers have been inured to the wages paid in arrears. Kai, for his worst experience, have been owed for 3 months. Could they ask the Labor Department for help? The response is always disappointing. ‘Following up.  When you called to check the result, every time they said your case was being followed up,” Mr. Man, another protester, sniffed.  The establishment of MPF (Mandatory Provident Fund), which intends to do good to the workers, has turned into a disaster to bar benders. The provision of fund should be shared by the employers and employees. However, contractors refuse to pay the provision and all the burden is laid on the bar benders. As a consequence, $60 is brutally taken away from their already poor income.  Could they seek help from the MPF Schemes Authority? Mr. Man said that ‘The staff told me to give a chance to the boss, F~~K( A modal particle )’. We give the chance to the boss but then who shows mercy to us? The Dire situation of the ethnic minority  Mr. Man pointed at the Nepalese workers standing besides them, and told us, ‘Their case is even worse. They are slandered and sworn everyday. The racial discrimination has worsened the situation of ethnic minority. Their daily wage has been reduced to $450 to $500 and their dignity has been violently trampled by contractors. They are constantly harassed by the contractors’ fault language and it sometimes leads to severe arguments and even fights. “We shouldn’t look down on them. They should be paid on an equal term and treated fairly!” These words were poured out from a sweating blue-collar. I was wondering what had hindered the Government from establishing the anti-discrimination bill.  The image of God, the dignity of HumansWithout dispute, among the various fields in the construction sector, bar bending is the hardest work. Exposing to boiling sun and pouring rain, bar benders have to cope with bulky iron and heavy steel. ‘The weather in the mid of July is the most unbearable. Over 30 degrees, my back was wet through.  The joints were worn and muscles were abraded. I could hardly stay awake after the dinner and the shower.’ Despite of the hardship, Mr. Man works hard for his family. He has two children studying in secondary school. The salary is barely enough for the basic expenses of the household.   The problems revealed by the strike of bar benders are just tips of an iceberg. Many more workers in other industries are now receiving unfair treatment. The outcry from the bar benders actually echoes the subdued anger of the masses. The worsening working conditions and the widening gap between the rich and the poor have aroused the public’s awareness of the injustice being done on them. Their hard work and perseverance are returned with pay cuts and longer working hours. Do you find bar benders’ situations exceptional? Or is it a prevalent experience well known to and shared by you and me?  The wealth and prosperity of Hong Kong are witnessed by all of us. Yet, how about the lives of the grassroot citizens? Their rights are completely ignored and violated. They are not protected by the labour laws. They have no right of collective bargaining and there is no minimum wage. They are the underprivileged. As Christians, shouldn’t we stand out and give utterance?  What’s God’s will on us in face of social injustice?  Facing with the exploitation of mass labor, deteriorating disparity between the rich and the poor, what is the role of the Church in the society? What the bar benders bring out is a solemn reminder: Church should take side and have his voice heard in the society. What’s your response to the social injustice? Which side are you on? It is a high time to introspect ourselves and act out the Gospel. ‘The Spirit of Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaimed the acceptable year of the Lord.’(Luke 4:18-19)  Written by LAU Kim Ling, executive secretary of SCM- HKTranslated by POON Wan Yu, Chairperson of SCM-HK

scm website:

鋼草根, 紥鐵花–紥鐵工友詩文集出版了! bar benders’ book, published!!!

鋼草根 扎鐵花 (2007扎鐵工潮文集)




每本定價六十, (所有收益將會繼續撥捐”支援紮鐵工人基金”)


如果你是關心事件的市民, 請你致電我們的發行好拍檔;阿德德書檔的馮先生; 94178344


Dear bar benders and all citizens,

This book could not include all the pieces of poem and writing of the strikers,

still, this is an valuable record.

Besides, we also have some interviews of our strikers and critics of the poem and writing.

HK $60 each (all the income with goes to the “Supporting bar bender fund”)

If you are strikers, dear bar benders, please tell Choi fung to take one freely 96240117

If you are citizens who concern the strike and the workers, please our distribution partner, Mr Fung 9417 8377

Again, all the strikers, our bar benders.









　　　王美鳳（佑寧堂傳道人） 、劉劍玲（香港基督徒學生運動）