Court dilutes Hutchison injunction, but dockers seem OK with 9.8pc hike
CONTENDING forces in the Hong Kong dock strike won and lost yesterday with management failing to get a High Court injunction to remove workers encamped at the Cheong Kong Centre, where the owners, Hutchison Whampoa, are headquartered.
But the Confederation of Trade Unions also suffered a blow to its demand for a 23 per cent pay hike demand when the rival Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions, released poll results showing 128 of 194 dockers surveyed would accept the latest management offer of a 9.8 per cent increase, up from an initial five per cent offer when the strike began more than a month ago.
The Hong Kong Labour Department wanted confirmation of the 9.8 per cent offer from management, which it has received, and has since announced it will convey the offer to all the dockers involved.
The Federation also conceded that while the yard workers, drivers and walking bosses in its survey overwhelmingly accepted the new offer, the crane drivers did not. They represented 91 per cent of the no vote.
The Confederation of Trade Unions welcomed the quashing of the management application to have the union encampment broken up and dispersed. The court extended the life of the original injunction, banning the workers from entering the building itself. It also banned using the pedestrian concourse near the overpass to set up overnight tends as it obstructed people on foot.
The strike affects 70 per cent of Hong Kong's container throughput as that is the proportion of total box volume that strike-bound Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) handles. Not all the dockers have joined the strike so the terminal is said to be up to 80 per cent operational, though union pickets obstruct trucking to and from the terminal when they can.
CONTENDING forces in the Hong Kong dock strike won and lost yesterday with management failing to get a High Court injunction to remove workers encamped at the Cheong Kong Centre, where the owners, Hutchison Whampoa, are headquartered.
But the Confederation of Trade Unions also suffered a blow to its demand for a 23 per cent pay hike demand when the rival Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions, released poll results showing 128 of 194 dockers surveyed would accept the latest management offer of a 9.8 per cent increase, up from an initial five per cent offer when the strike began more than a month ago.
The Hong Kong Labour Department wanted confirmation of the 9.8 per cent offer from management, which it has received, and has since announced it will convey the offer to all the dockers involved.
The Federation also conceded that while the yard workers, drivers and walking bosses in its survey overwhelmingly accepted the new offer, the crane drivers did not. They represented 91 per cent of the no vote.
The Confederation of Trade Unions welcomed the quashing of the management application to have the union encampment broken up and dispersed. The court extended the life of the original injunction, banning the workers from entering the building itself. It also banned using the pedestrian concourse near the overpass to set up overnight tends as it obstructed people on foot.
The strike affects 70 per cent of Hong Kong's container throughput as that is the proportion of total box volume that strike-bound Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) handles. Not all the dockers have joined the strike so the terminal is said to be up to 80 per cent operational, though union pickets obstruct trucking to and from the terminal when they can.