Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) is under siege in that relative rarity in Hong Kong, a workers strike. Speaking to the press the company said it expects 90 vessels will skip the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal, where it operates, if the strike lasts to April 21.
Strike organiser Lee Cheuk-yan, a legislative councillor under the Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU), said that if talks broke down today, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung should bear the “biggest responsibility”.
An interim injunction which prevents Union of Hong Kong dockworkers (UHKD) workers from staging full scale strike action was extended on Friday by the Hong Kong High Court, thus denying workers the fundamental right to take industrial action.
This government official has arranged a meeting of the Confederation, the port operator (observer only), and two contractors (Everbest Port Services and Global Stevedoring Service Company), 10 April, in the morning, and, another meeting in the afternoon with HIT, the two contractors, the Federation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions. The two unions represent two other groups of non-striking dockers.
The 500 strikers are seeking a 17 to 24 per cent pay rise. Also, they want to draw attention to their adverse work conditions that arises partly owing to the non-stop loading and unloading activities at the huge modern dock.
Unionist Lee criticises the Labour Department’s decision to invite the two other unions, which were not involved in the strike. “Maybe Matthew Cheung is trying to boost the image of the pro-establishment, pro-Beijing unions,” he said to the press.
However, it is to the good of the entirety of the Hong Kong work force that unions co-operate instead of constantly being at odds. There is no right to strike in Hong Kong and the right of assembly is restricted to 50 persons, without permit – it was only 20 under the British.
It is telling of how the corporation is handling the strike. HIT has not shown any willingness to assist in the negotiations, instead contending that negotiations are the responsibility of its contractors.
The action has amplified beyond the obvious with sympathisers, for various reasons, using Facebook and other social media to mobilise involvement. Now there are the locally termed pan-democrat political parties, non-governmental organisations, community groups and students. What started as a demand for higher wages and better conditions by 450 workers has turned into an Occupy environment.
Long time resident and journalist Barry Girling says a probe is needed on the outsourcing of workers. Writing in the South China Morning Post his article digs down into the root of many worker problems in the territory and is worth retelling in full:
“There may be an additional reason for our striking dockers to picket ParknShop supermarkets, other than their owner (Cheung Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa conglomerate) also being the main operator of Hongkong International Terminals, the site of the strike.
Some years ago, it was revealed that ParknShop had outsourced many of its jobs, such as sales staff, to subcontracted firms, just as Hutchison Whampoa does now for much of its dock labour force.
It can be presumed that Cheung Kong/Hutchison employs the same cost-saving, union-busting, benefit-limiting tactics at Taste, Fusion and its other ParknShop stores.
It would not be surprising to learn that the conglomerate takes advantage of the same staffing subterfuge in other branches of its business, to avoid taking direct responsibility for the payment, terms of employment, benefits and rights of “its” employees.
Outsourcing of employees is so common in Hong Kong that it warrants investigation by local trade unions, legislators and the Labour Department.
While no doubt perfectly legal, it is a poor example of management ethics.”
Michael Chugani, also wiring in the same newspaper says “…ordinary Hongkongers are cheering on the strikers with millions of dollars in cash and food donations. Would they be as pumped up if the strike had been against just any other company and not Hong Kong International Terminals (HIT), which is controlled by tycoon Li Ka-shing? Of course not.”
“When union leaders reveal horror stories of crane operators having to work 12-hour shifts without even proper toilet breaks, and dock workers earning less now than a decade ago, the people get worked up. They are angry and aghast that a profitable Li-owned company could be so heartless. By cheering on the strikers they are venting their pent-up anger against what they see as an unfair society controlled by tycoons and the business lobby that has produced unaffordable housing, increasing poverty and the widest wealth gap in the developed world.”
Active on site Left21 (a platform aimed to unite and consolidate leftist forces in Hong Kong) has made a list of demands.
We demand that Li Ka-shing, Hutchison Port Holdings and Hongkong International Terminals Ltd immediately fulfill the following:
1. Publicly apologize for the Managing Director of HIT, Gerry Yim’s attempt to disassociate the company with the waterfront workers at yesterday’s press conference
2. Stop employing temporary workers without a ‘safe card’
3. Conduct salary negotiations with union leaders who truly represent the workers
4. Eliminate outsourcing and directly employ all waterfront workers
5. Improve facilities related to occupational safety and workers’ health, and establish a reasonable workplace safety code.
Worker’s rights commentator Geoffrey Crothall emphasises that by parcelling up the dock workers in a network of different contractors, management hopes to divide and rule, and snuff out any protest before it can escalate. “That tactic may work for a while but it has clearly failed this time. Not only has the solidarity of the workers inside the port increased, as more and more dockers join the strike, they have also garnered support from other workers such as the truck drivers and ordinary members of the public, raising HK$1.4 million in donations in just the first week of the strike.” Note: the updated charity fund for them is: HK$4,450,000 (at 5p.m. 10 April).
Crothall recalls that a most noteworthy incident occurred in April 2007 when more than 300 crane operators at the Yantian International Container Terminals (which is part of the Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, along with HIT) went out on strike demanding better pay and working conditions. The workers also demanded the right to elect their own trade union representatives and it was those representatives who eventually negotiated a collective agreement on wages and working conditions with the Yantian management.
As this director of communications at China Labour Bulletin says, “Most employees would rather be at work while their union negotiates on their behalf, instead of sitting on a picket line in the pouring rain.”
