Strike ends after 40 days as dockers accept 9.8pc pay rise
Contractors' written guarantee leads to staff accepting 9.8pc increase they had previously turned down and calling off 40-day walkout
Striking dockers yesterday accepted a 9.8 per cent pay rise, ending one of the longest walkouts in the city's history.
The deadlock was broken when four contractors pledged to write the increase into their contracts and to improve conditions, one of the strike leaders said.
Just two days ago, the strikers voted unanimously against a 9.8 per cent rise, insisting on a "double digit" increase. The salary rise will be backdated to May 1.
Union of Hong Kong Dockers spokesman Stanley Ho Wai-hong said: "This is half successful. The most important reason why we have decided to accept the offer is because of the written guarantee from the contractors."
Yesterday's decision ended the strike on its 40th day.
Hundreds of staff employed by contractors of port operator Hongkong International Terminals (HIT), part of Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa empire, stopped work at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals on March 28. About 530 dockers - said to be two-thirds of the dockers HIT employed through contractors - joined the strike at its peak.
Yesterday, the 430 remaining strikers and unionists went into a meeting after the High Court ruled that they would be allowed to continue protesting outside Li's Cheung Kong Center until a formal hearing on a permanent injunction was heard.
Emerging after the two-hour session, Ho announced that they accepted the offer and that the strike was over. About 80 per cent voted to accept the offer.
Ho pointed to a written statement sent to the Labour Department in the afternoon by contractors Everbest Port Services, Pui Kee Stevedore, Lem Wing Transportation and Comcheung Human Resources.
In the statement, the contractors pledged all dockers would get the 9.8 per cent rise from last Wednesday. They agreed to allow dockers to stop work for meals or for toilet breaks whenever they wanted and to improve safety with the help of HIT.
The contractors also promised there would be no retaliation against the strikers.
The raise means that, for example, a Comcheung stevedore who makes HK$1,315 for a 24-hour shift will now be paid HK$1,443. The strikers had asked for a rise of about 20 per cent.
But Ho said: "They think that having the written agreement from the contractors is more important than merely a number.
"For years, the contractors have never put things in black and white and have only made promises verbally."
The union will liaise with the contractors on arrangements to resume work. But they would not be leaving the strike base at the Cheung Kong Center immediately, Ho said.
Global Stevedoring Service worker Cho Wai-tak said some were still concerned about their future. Cho, whose employer went out of business last Wednesday, was not sure if he would still have a job.
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