A month-long strike that pitted Hong Kong dock workers against Asia's richest man has ended with the strikers accepting a 9.8 per cent pay rise, much less than the 23 per cent increase they had been demanding. The industrial action by 450 dockers, crane operators and stevedores was used by some campaigners to highlight the growing income divide in Hong Kong, which has double the Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, of most OECD countries. The dispute at the Hongkong International Terminals, owned by Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa group, forced some shipping lines to divert loads to Chinese ports elsewhere in the Pearl River Delta to avoid the disruption at the world's third-busiest container port. During the strike the terminal ran at less than 90 per cent capacity. Dockers also camped outside Mr Li's Cheung Kong Centre office tower in central Hong Kong, raising the visibility of the industrial action. The dock workers' union is still to discuss a full return to work with the subcontractors who directly employ them, and the camp remained outside Cheung Kong yesterday. But the workers have agreed to accept the increase after Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, labour secretary, helped to secure a written assurance that the increase would apply to all workers. |
|