Port rejects dockers' pay claims
Union leaders hit back at 'ridiculous' remark and challenge terminal bosses to show them the figures as strikers continue fight for 17pc rise
The strike-hit port operator said it had looked into dock workers' pay for the past decade and dismissed claims they are paid less now than a decade ago.
But the strike organiser branded the remarks by Hongkong International Terminals' (HIT) managing director Gerry Yim Lui-fai yesterday as "ridiculous", and questioned whether he had really looked at the records.
Yim made his remarks on a radio programme as 450 dock workers and hundreds of supporters continued to gather outside the Kwai Tsing container terminals.
The strike organiser is also planning to ask the Labour Department to prosecute the contractors who threatened to fire workers who refused to return to work.
Yim said he had asked contractors to give him the workers' pay records for the past 10 years.
There were reports saying that the workers have not had pay rises in the past decade. That is wrong. It's also wrong that their pay is now lower than in 1997 or during Sars
"There were reports saying that the workers have not had pay rises in the past decade. That is wrong. It's also wrong that their pay is now lower than in 1997 or during Sars," he added, without revealing how much the workers had been paid.