In the centre in Hong Kong, where the union doesn't have the power or the will to pull the skin off a rice pudding, all the mikes are live all the time.
Conversation between controllers is carried out in furtive whispers with ones hand over the mike.
More than one (expat) controller has faced "rubber hosing" as a result of a careless comment (about management) made during a quiet period without the appropriate safeguards.
