Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: All on the same ocean: VITTORIA!

On 6 May a general meeting of the workers of Kwai Tsing Container
Terminal in Hong Kong voted to accept the concessions offered by the
bosses and end their 40-day strike. The bosses – who are
subcontractors of Hong Kong International Terminals Ltd. (HIK) -
promised a 9.8% wage rise for all the workers starting from May, an
improved arrangement for freedom to have bathroom and meal breaks; and
further negotiation on health and safety in the workplace.
 
This is still some distance from the workers’ original demands which
included a 23% pay increase, an annual salary review and, above all,
recognition of the trade union’s right to negotiate with the
employers. Thus the struggle continues, but the present outcome is
clearly a defeat for the bosses.
 
The strike has received unprecedented support from all layers of
society, especially from students and working class people. The
independent trade union – the Union of Hong Kong Dockers (UHKD) which
is an affiliate of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU)
played a leading role in the movement. The militancy of the workers
and the solidarity between the working class and students enabled the
workers to fight against a mighty enemy – the giant monopoly Li Ka-
shing’s Hitchison and Whampoa. The movement marks a new turning point
for the labour movement and the social movement in Hong Kong and
Mainland China.
The other side of the port giant’s success
 
Up to now, Hong Kong has been ranked the world’s third-busiest
container port, after Singapore and Shanghai. It is famous for having
the most frequent connections to the United States, Europe and the
rest of Asia, as well as being a world-leader in efficiency. Kwai
Tsing is the most important port in Hong Kong. HIT, the employer of
the striking workers, operates 14 berths, more than half of which are
in Kwai Tsing. HIT’s parent company – Hitchison and Whampoa (HWL) is
the largest container port operator in the world (by cargo volume),
operating in five of the seven busiest container ports in the world
and also running operations in various other smaller ports. Ports and
related services are the most profitable industry in the
transportation sector in Hong Kong. HIT is reported to control almost
70% of the profit in this industry, and Hitchison Port Holdings
achieved an 18.3% increase in profit, thus reaching almost £460
million in 2012. Li Ka-shing, the chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.,
is ranked the eighth richest person in the world with an estimated
wealth of £20 billion. Fok Kin-ning, Chairman of HIT, with an annual
salary of £15 million, is one of the top five taxpayers in Hong Kong.
 
All of this wealth however, is derived from severe exploitation of the
dock workers. For almost 20 years outsourcing has been taking place in
Kwai Tsing. Apart from the crane operators, most of the jobs have been
out-sourced to subcontractors. The many layers of outsourced workers
is a means of dividing the workers and confusing them in order to
prevent them from taking militant action.
 
The outsourced workforce have to work extremely long hours. Having to
work three shifts back to back (a 24 hour shift) is routine every
month. During the busy season, they are made to work continuously for
48 or even 72 hours! Despite the long working hours, their salary is
not proportionately high. The average monthly salary is around HK$
13,000 (£1,076), which is just above the median income in Hong Kong.
Moreover, their salary has not been increased for almost 17 years –
the current pay for 24 hours work is HK$ 1300 (£108) compared to HK$
1480 (£123) in 1997. In addition, the work intensity has also been
increased. For example, in the past a shipside team consisting of 8
workers was responsible for 15 containers per hour, but now a team of
just 6 workers is responsible for 21 containers per hour.
 
Workers are also suffering under inhumane working conditions. They are
given no meal breaks and have to eat every meal on the job. The crane
workers are not permitted to come down from the crane at all during
the shift. This means that they not only have to eat meals in the 2m2
space, but also are forced to solve the problem of bathroom visits
here. CCTV has been installed all around the port to enforce these
conditions of work. In extreme weather conditions such as gales, the
employees still have to work. Even in carrying out their regular work,
the employees still face the constant danger of injury or death.
Reports from workers say that accidents are a regular occurrence in
the port, but are never reported to Labour Department.
 
These are the people who make the Hong Kong Port operate continuously
and efficiently. As the workers shouted during a rally; they are able
to feed Li Ka-shing, but are not able to feed their own families!
Rather than saying that the success of the company has not been shared
by the workers, it would be much more accurate to say that it is the
exploitation of the workers that makes HIT and HPH so successful in
the first place, it is the workers that feed the company!
Anger built up
 
In 1995, the terminal was outsourced by a subcontractor to four second-
layer subcontractors. The shipside workers had already been finding it
very difficult to carry out the workload required of them, but the
subcontractor decided to reduce the team size from 8 people to 6
people. The workers objected and put forward their demands. The
refusal to negotiate from HIT led to strike action by 300 workers. On
the second day of this action, HIT responded with decision to replace
the subcontractor. The workers thought they had won the battle, until
later they discovered the new subcontractors SAKOMA and FLOATA were
actually just the crony companies of HIT. Salaries were reduced, work
intensity was increased, and things became even worse. The bitterness
of this failure demoralised the workers.
 
Although small actions have taken place during the past few years, the
workers have been extremely cautious due to the threat of losing their
jobs if found to have initiated any industrial action. It was not
until 2005 that an independent trade union was set up in HIT. That
year, several workers who had been sacked from Modern Terminal Ltd.
came to work in HIT. They were members of HKCTU and were helped by the
union to claim compensation for their dismissal. Those workers used
their experience to help establish the trade union in HIT.
 
In 2011, the shipside workers found that their wages were being
reduced to a lower level than they had been in 1996. The union
mobilised 400 members and eventually won a HK$150 (£12) pay increase
per shift, although the non-unionised crane workers only won a HK$60
(£5) increase per shift. In 2012, although inflation hit 8%, workers
were still afraid to ask for a wage increase. But despite the fear
inspired by the bosses, the workers’ anger and a sense of injustice
has been building up. Meanwhile, one union member has set up a
Facebook page called ‘the miseries on the port’ to agitate and unite
the dock workers, especially the crane operators. Workers also invited
journalists to pay an unannounced visit to the port and publish a
report on their findings in the press.
 
In 2013, with 5% inflation, the workers had no option but to ask for
pay increase. In January, the workers decided to ask for 23% pay hike,
but received no reply from the HIT. On 20 March, the union tried to
negotiate with HIT again and threatened strike action. HIT then
declared a 5% wage increase (equivalent to inflation rate), but the
workers refused to accept this offer. They organised a demonstration
outside the Cheung Kong Centre, the location of the Hutchison Whampoa
Group’s HQ, together with students and other organisations. Despite
this action HIT still stuck to 5% increase and this is what finally
led to strike action.
An uneven battle
 
On 28 March, more than 200 outsourced workers from several different
subcontractors started the strike in Terminal 6. As the workers
blocked the road the strike quickly spread. On the second day, 90% of
the operations were paralysed at Terminals 4, 6, 7 and 9. A strike
fund was set up and students and activists came to show support. Later
250 more outsourced crane operators also joined the strike, while the
company workers staged a ‘work-to-rule’. Around 450 workers marched
from Terminal 6 to Terminal 8. The strike quickly gained around 1500
supporters who came to the port and joined the rally.
 
The workers organised five general meetings, in which all the striking
workers democratically took decisions after thorough discussion. In
the first meeting, workers on different positions made their demands
clear and together they finalised their joint demands – a 23% pay
increase, recognition of the trade union for the purposes of
negotiation and better working conditions and health and safety
standards. They also agreed that only when HIT and the three major
subcontractors were all present would the representatives of the
workers attend negotiations with them. In subsequent meetings the
workers discussed and voted upon whether to accept the offer from the
subcontractors.
 
However HIT was a strong enemy. At first, they tried to distance
themselves from the workers and tried to shift all the responsibility
onto the subcontractors. This blatant attempt to ignore their
obligations was exposed by the media who reported that the major
shareholders of the subcontractors are actually from HIT. HIT and the
subcontractors then used the classic ‘carrot and stick’ method. On the
second day, one of the subcontractors Comcheung promised a pay hike of
almost 20 per cent, in two increments, by the end of next year.
Similarly, later other subcontractors tried to bribe workers into
abandoning the strike with a bonus of HK$3000 (£500) for the first two
weeks and another of HK$2000 (£165) for the second two weeks.
Meanwhile, another subcontractor threatened to sack all those workers
who continued to strike. These tactics were partially successful as
tens of workers abandoned the strike on the second day, and several
more followed later on.
 
But as long as the workers could picket inside the port, they still
represented a significant threat to the bosses. This is why HIT
immediately sought an injunction against the strike. The court did not
hesitate before sacrificing the constitutional right to strike and the
freedom of expression for the unions on the altar of the private
rights of the port operators and others to enjoy the use of the
terminals. This greatly weakened and limited the influence of the
strike, as the workers and supporters were evicted from the terminal.
Although the court later authorised 80 people to return, they were
only allowed to persuade workers in the car park of Terminal 6.
 
The media also helped the capitalists in attacking the workers by
condemning them for having political intentions and claiming that they
were being used by activists and politicians. Via media outlets Fok
Kin-ning accused the workers and their leaders of using Cultural
Revolution methods to attack him and Li Ka-shing. This accusation was
intended to remind the public of the 1967 Leftist Riot, which was a
nightmare for many people living in Hong Kong because of the terrorist
elements that took hold in its final stages. It is also not surprising
to see that various lies about the dispute were heavily reported, such
as the apparently high salary, the allegedly good working conditions
etc. In the last few days, several newspapers have dedicated whole
pages to interviews with those workers who were not on strike,
asserting that more than 60% of the workers were willing to accept the
subcontractors’ offer.
 
In order to minimise their losses, HIT employed temporary workers for
shipside work, and asked the workers who were not on strike to work
overtime. For more crucial jobs such as crane operation, retired
workers were rehired. Another important factor is that the Yantian
Port in Shenzhen, only 50 km away from Kwai Tsing, is also largely
under the control of Hutchinson Whampoa. It would not have been
difficult for them to redistribute some of the workforce from one port
to another.
 
Under such circumstances, HIT and the subcontractors remained tough,
sticking to the offer of a 5% pay increase and a 2% increase in
welfare payments. In first five rounds of negotiations organised by
the Labour Department, they offered no other concessions and found
various different excuses to call each round to an end. It was not
until the 38th day of the strike, when 80 crane workers rejoined the
strike, that they finally increased the offer to 9.8% increase and put
it in writing.
Resonance across society
 
Although the enemy was much stronger the workers continued their
militant action for 40 days, surpassing the 36-day record created by
the bar-benders in 2007. Without support from a broad layer in
society, this could never have been achieved.
 
Right from the very beginning, the students fought side by side with
the workers. Some students joined the demonstration even before the
strike. On the second day of the strike, the Hong Kong Federation of
Students and Left 21 organised students to come to the port to offer
help with logistics. They actively talked to the workers in order to
learn more about them and wrote and published several articles on
Facebook, which in turn attracted a wider range of students and
workers to the cause. From the 9th day of the strike, the Hong Kong
Federation of Social Work Students and Left 21 began to publish a
daily paper reporting on the progress of the strike and the support
coming in from all over society to the dock workers. They also
organised cheering parties, set up stalls all over Hong Kong to ask
for donations, participated in demonstrations together with the
workers as well as alone, and publicised the struggle on social
networks.
 
Their presence and efforts gave workers enormous support. As one of
the worker said in the interview, ‘I thought of leaving. But when I
saw the young students staying in the rain to support us, I did not
have any excuse to leave. They were not as strong as us, but they
persisted, and even told us ‘you don’t leave, we don’t leave’.’
 
The dockers’ action achieved a huge social resonance. ‘In support of
the dock workers’ became one of the most popular phrases online. Many
people uploaded photos to the internet with this phrase written on
pieces of paper to show their support. People donated money and
supplies which enabled the striking workers to make ends meet. With
the donations of thousands of people, the strike fund reached more
than HK$ 8.5 million (£0.7 million), almost 10 times as that of the 36-
day bar-bender strike in 2007. Unlike in the past, the condemnation of
the strike as bad for the economy was not an effective method by which
to limit support for the strike. On May Day, thousands of people
joined the march in support of the dock workers. Earlier, on 7 April,
there had been another demonstration with 4000 participants.
 
The wide support shows how much the mood has changed in Hong Kong
society. After the 1967 riot, there was a general fear of the left in
Hong Kong. Social movements are usually oriented around anti-Chinese
Communist Party and calls for the right to a general election. Labour
issues have long been neglected. Why has this strike been so
different? It is because working class people saw their own struggles
reflected in those of the dock workers. In spite of economic growth,
the standard of living for ordinary people has not improved. The
median monthly salary only rose from HK$ 9,500 in 1996 to 11,000 in
2011, well behind the speed of inflation. On the other hand, the Gini
index for inequality rose from 0.518 to 0.537. 40 monopolies dominate
69% of Hong Kong’s GDP, and control both the economy and the politics.
Hong Kong society is severely polarised, and social mobility has
broken down. There is a general anger towards monopolies, towards low
wages, bad working conditions and the backward labour laws, and
towards the Hong Kong free-market model.
All on the same ocean
 
Despite these great achievements, we have to accept that this strike
action had its limitations. A considerable number of workers abandoned
the strike in the face of pressure and temptation from the
subcontractors. And the strike failed to spread to the other 80% of
workers in HIT terminals who did not take part in this action,
especially the company workers. The other two unions who represent
those workers rowed back on their demands and held separate
negotiations with HIT and the subcontractors. These are the reasons
why that the strike did not achieve all the workers’ demands. The dock
workers must continue fighting for the protection of striking workers,
health and safety rights and better welfare and trade union rights.
Unity between workers and unions must be built through this struggle.
 
As Marx pointed out in the Communist Manifesto, ‘the real fruit of
their battles lie not in the immediate result, but in the ever
expanding union of the workers’. As one striking worker said in an
interview, he “realised that he was not alone and the workers are not
selfish”; he is fighting together with more than 400 fellow workers,
fighting together with the working class and students. The dockers’
strike sets a good example and builds up confidence for the working
class in Hong Kong. It is a reflection of the explosive mood that is
developing in Hong Kong and in mainland China where the world’s
largest working class is beginning to stretch its muscles.
 
The main slogan of the strike was ‘all on the same ocean’, which
intended to unite company workers and outsourced workers. This slogan
is can be applied to all of Hong Kong society. On the other side of
the strait there is the Yantian Port in Shenzhen which is also largely
owned by HWL. 800 dock workers in this port took strike action twice
in 2007 to demand a pay increase, better welfare at work and the
establishment of a trade union. The workers on both sides of the
strait are fighting the same enemy and making the same demands. In
future, they will be fighting side by side and they need such unity if
they are to defeat the mighty enemy. Millions of workers in China are
facing similar problems of outsourcing, low wages, bad working
conditions and lack of trade union protection – in effect the problems
created by Capitalism. Although the road to unity is difficult and
long, the single sparks of individual strikes and mass actions will
eventually link together and start a prairie fire!
http://www.marxist.com/all-on-the-same-ocean-hong-kong-strike.htm
 
 
ma come, ad Hong Kong? Dhimmi, incassa e porta a casa......

 improved arrangement for freedom to have bathroom and meal breaks; 
 
pensa Bomby, questi tizi sono scappati dalla Cina Comunista (rotfl) per andare a lavorare senza nemmeno la pausa per il cesso.
 
immagina come si sta dall'altro lato.

 pensa Bomby
 
anche nella capitalistissima Hong Kong i padroni devono cedere. Non ti
fa dormire la notte, vero?

 anche nella capitalistissima Hong Kong i 
 
poveracci scappati dalla Cina Comunista (*) hanno scoperto la cultura liberale ed il diritto di associarsi per difendere i propri interessi, introdotto in quella citta' dall'impero britannico, e sconosciuto sulla terra ferma.
 
(*) i cinesi della mainland a Hong Kong si occupano solitamente dei lavori che i bengalesi non vogliono fare.

 poveracci
 
lottano per i propri diritti, con buona pace di chi dice che i commie
non sono benvoluti a HK

 lottano per i propri diritti
 
in un paese dove non gli passano sopra con i carrarmati.