Strike of the workers of Hongkong International Terminals arrives to the eighth day



HIT has arrived to the eighth day the protest of the workers of the Hongkong International Terminals (), the terminalista society of the group Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPH Trust) that it manages five of the nine container terminal of the area harbour Kwai Tsing di Hong Kong, of which four (Terminal 4, 6, 7 and 9) directly and one (8 Terminals East) through joint venture 50:50 COSCO-HIT Terminals (CHT) with COSCO Pacific.

Strike is in existence from on 28 March in order demanding an increase of the salaries and wage and an improvement of the job conditions. HIT and COSCO-HIT, in the attempt to guarantee the operativity of the terminals, have obtained past monday a temporary injunction of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong whom it forbids to manifesting to approach the container terminal and that it has a duration of five days. Tomorrow the terminaliste societies HIT and CHT will be introduced near the Court with the objective to obtain a delay of the injunction.

The protest, unusual for the port of Hong Kong, continues to crosses of access to the terminals and determines a slow down of the operating activities with repercussions is on the import traffics that of export. Hong Kong Shippers ' Council has manifested worry for the reduction of the operativity of the terminals, that he above all has an impact negative on the traffics of perishable goods. In a note the president of the shippers and loaders of Hong Kong, Willy Lin, has specified that the shippers will estimate possible alternatives if the situation endures an ulterior worsening, included the possibility to divert the traffics towards the terminals of the port of Shenzhen.

Convened yesterday from the undersecretary to the Job and the Welfare of Hong Kong, Matthew Cheung Kin - chung, the representatives of Hutchison Port Holdings have assured the their maximum engagement in order to activate a dialogue between the parts to the aim to resolve the controversy in the short possible time. "I appeal to the enterprise and the workers - the undersecretary has declared - so that they pragmatically face the problem in a spirit of compromise and mutual understanding. Cheung Kin - chung she has evidenced that the prosecuzione of the protest will have an impact directed on the life of the workers and the efficiency of the port and "this - has found - he is not in the interest of some".

From part its international federation of the workers of transports ITF has condemned firmly the attempts from HIT "to deprive these workers of their right of strike through an injunction". "The attempts of the society to intimidate the workers with the threat to fire the strikers so as its movement in order to replace them with strikebreakers - it has accused the International Transport Workers' Federation - constitutes serious violations of the international norms". "The controversy - it has commented Paddy Crumlin, president of the ITF and harbour president of the section of the labor organization - has reached a critical phase. The ITF asks HIT and Hutchison Port Holdings Trust to place to the first place health, safety, decent conditions of job and respect of the trade-union rights. The harbour workers have the full support and support of 4,5 million the associations of ITF".