Hong Kong port strike update

25 April 2013

Hong Kong port strike update

This is the current situation in the Port of Hong Kong, where subcontracted workers have now been on strike for 28 days.

Despite the continuation of the strike, there have been several developments in this dispute. Global Stevedoring, a contractor of HIT, has announced it is closing its operations, blaming the UHKD strike action. The ITF believes this is an attempt to turn public opinion against the union.

A work-to-rule which was been being carried out by members of the HIT union has been halted after an agreement was made with HIT management to give overtime compensation of 1.4 times the hourly rate, a victory for the union.

The ITF welcomes the agreement between HIT and the HIT union and now calls for the same standards with regards good faith and transparent negotiation to be applied to the subcontracted workers, who remain out on strike.

Members of the Union of Hong Kong Dockers have been picketing at Kwai Chung terminal in a bid to make Hong Kong International Terminals (HIT) management return to negotiations. There is also a union presence outside the offices of Hutchison Whampoa, the parent company of terminal operator Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), of which HIT is a subsidiary. In a further attempt to prevent union members from exercising their rights to free expression and the right to strike, a notice has been issued today to evict the strikers and an application has been filed for an injunction banning demonstrators from this area.

To find out more please see www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/campaigns-3714.cfm

ENDS

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