The pay dispute embroiling striking dockers and port operators has grown into a wider movement with dozens of groups coming forward at the Kwai Chung container terminals, partly thanks to campaigns on social networks.
Strike organisers said that as of 9pm last night, they had collected about HK$650,000 in donations. Each of the 450 strikers would be given HK$1,000 in cash to make up part of their lost wages over the past six days, they said. About HK$300,000 had been given out by last night.
On Monday, supporters massed at the container terminals in Kwai Chung before the 1,000-strong crowd was ordered to leave under a court injunction issued later that night.
Chan Chiu-wai, an organising co-ordinator with the Confederation of Trade Unions, said the big crowd of support for the dockers on Monday had been unexpected.
In the past, Chan said, labour disputes usually involved only the union and the workers.
But this time, the social networking site Facebook had played a key role in rousing support. A table comparing the dockers' wages throughout the years, prepared by the CTU, was widely posted on the site.