The city's largest port operator announced it would guarantee all dockers hired by subcontractors would get a pay rise higher than the inflation rate in the wake of last year's strike.

The High Court on Friday ruled that dock workers could return to the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals to continue their strike under an amendment to the injunction already granted to the port operator that previously barred striking workers from entering or blocking the port operator’s terminals.

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.

HIT was standing by its claim that it had nothing to do with the employment of contract workers, whose strike is now entering its second week. But unions countered with information they said showed otherwise.

An international transport trade union representing 4.5 million workers worldwide has organised a meeting to discuss action in support of the Hong Kong dockers' strike. The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) yesterday arranged for union leaders from around the world to attend a two-day meeting in London next week to decide what they could do for the striking workers.

A long-awaited meeting between striking dock workers and their employers set up by the Labour Department broke down before it even started. The dock workers, who have been on strike since last Thursday, are asking for a pay rise from their employers, which are contractors under Hongkong International Terminals (HIT), a subsidiary of billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison Whampoa.

I refer to the report ("Expert accused of twisting facts on voting rights", April 1). Maria Tam Wai-chu may have had a momentary slip of the mind when she said that Article 25(b) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights did not cover the right to stand for election.

Talks between striking Kwai Tsing dockers and two contractors that employ them broken down on Thursday with the contractors only willing to agree to a raise of about 7 per cent – a far cry from the 17 to 23 per cent the strikers are asking for.

Long-awaited talks between striking dockers and contractors failed to get off the ground yesterday. Meanwhile, more than 200 dockers directly hired by the port operator at the centre of the controversy, Hongkong International Terminals, began a work-to-rule - adding to the chaos at Kwai Tsing port, where about 500 contracted staff have been on strike for more than a week.

As the strike entered its 11th day, the 500 dock workers on strike marched with their supporters from Causeway Bay's Victoria Park to Central's Cheung Kong Center - where tycoon Li Ka-shing works - and then on to the government's Tamar headquarters in Admiralty.

Strikers accused Hongkong International Terminals of trying to divide them yesterday after the port operator offered a HK$5,000 bonus to workers who performed their duties in the past week or resumed work today.

The volume of cargo handled by port operator Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) has halved in the 12 days since dockers walked off the job, as more vessels turn to other ports, insiders say.

A pressure group has called for a boycott of the ParknShop supermarket chain - part of the Li Ka-shing empire - to back the dock workers' strike. The call came as the group staged a demonstration outside the chain's store near Kwai Fong MTR yesterday in support of the strikers at container terminals operated by Li's Hongkong International Terminals (HIT).

Dock workers and the strike-hit port operator both placed advertisements in several newspapers on Monday as the labour dispute has stretched on for nearly a month.

A contractor at the centre of a labour dispute on Tuesday ruled out a 20 per cent pay rise for striking dock workers in Kwai Chung, saying an increase of this amount was unaffordable. It was the first time a contractor involved in the dispute has spoken publicly about  the strike, which entered its 13th day on Tuesday.

Wholesalers said Sunkist oranges, which are shipped in from the United States, were likely to continue selling at higher prices as produce from North and South America remained hit.

Talks over a salary dispute at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals broke down yesterday as two contractors who employed the striking dockers agreed to a raise of only about 7 per cent - a far cry from the 17 to 24 per cent the workers have been demanding for more than two weeks.

When veteran Australian unionist Joe Deakin found out about the working conditions Hong Kong dockers had to endure, he described it as a "living hell". Deakin, assistant branch secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, flew to Hong Kong on Monday with seven other unionists to show support for the 450 striking dockers.

Shippers have worked out a back-up plan to move Hong Kong cargo through ports in Guangdong with no end in sight to the Kwai Tsing dock strike. The Hong Kong Shippers' Council also said Guangdong customs had agreed to speed up clearance of diverted shipments.

Striking dockers vowed action with the effect of a "nuclear bomb" if talks with contractors in the dispute over their pay and conditions break down today. The threat came as a government source said the administration had set an objective of settling the dispute this week.

Since hundreds of dock workers downed tools 11 days ago at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals to press their case for a 17 per cent pay rise, their action has brought into sharp focus the dire conditions many of them have to endure daily.