I would recommend giving new hires a period of time to settle in, join the dots etc prior to joining a branch of the AOA. Beyond 1-2 years applications for membership should be welcomed but with some sort of penalty rate related to number of years not a member of a union. There may be the odd few people out there that are members of other unions outside HK (because they are based) so they should be welcomed without penalty, i.e. they have been paying for representation somewhere.