Member of Beijing-loyalist FTU part of contractor's management

A Beijing-loyalist alliance of trade unions has stayed silent throughout the week-old walkout at the Kwai Tsing container terminals because of vested interests with some of the port contractors, striking workers have alleged.

Earlier, the Federation of Trade Unions claimed it reached a consensus with the contractors last week to raise their workers' wages by 5 per cent from July.

The workers are seeking a 17 per cent pay rise. The FTU has kept its distance since the industrial action started last Thursday, saying it is leaving the pan-democratic Confederation of Trade Unions to help the dockers.

Some of the strikers said two federation members were holding senior or middle-management roles at the contractor companies and that was why the FTU was not really helping them.

A former crane operator, who called himself Brother Keung, 40, said he had been employed by contractor Global Stevedoring Service since 2000, until it terminated him last year. He said a man by the transliterated name of Yau Mei-kwong was part of Global's middle management and also a federation member.

"All the workers have lost trust in the federation," he said. "If it now dares to approach the strikers, I really do not know what would happen."