ITUC Welcomes End Of Bar-Bender Strike
INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION (ITUC)
ITUC
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Hong Kong: 36-day historical
bar-bender strike ended on September 12 after
settling a
deal with contractors
Brussels, 14 September 2007 (ITUC
OnLine): The ITUC welcomed the end of the
bar-bender
strike on 12 September after settling a deal of HKD 860 for
an
8-hour day. ³The wage increase is insignificant
compared to the initial
worker demand of HKD 950²,
declared Lee Cheuk Yan, General Secretary of the
Hong
Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, ³but the workers agreed
that 8-hour
day was the most important issue and thus
their representatives settled the
deal with the employer
association who also agreed to open negotiation
again
next March over the issue of wage increases² he
added.
According to Lee Cheuk Yan, a meeting will be
held this Sunday, February 16
with the bar-benders to
discuss formation of a democratic trade union.
The
Hong Kong workers have been on strike since 6 August over
low pay and in
favour of an 8-hour working day. This is
the longest running strike in
recent Hong Kong history.
Despite the length of the strike the workers
remained
strong and garnered massive public support in a usually
neutral
Hong Kong. Most workers in the industry received
a maximum of only 600 HK$
per day, about half of the
applicable pay rate of 10 years ago.
³Despite their
refusal to work directly with the HKCTU, the Contractors
in
the end at least gave some ground to the worker¹s
demands and ultimately
accepted the strength of the
demands and the considerable public support for
the
strike², declared Guy Ryder, ITUC General Secretary; the
8-hour working
day is a significant victory for the
workers. ³The formation of a new and
democratic trade
union for the bar-benders will be the next step in
the
fight for the workers¹ rights in Hong Kong².
The settlement is the first genuine industry wide
collective agreement in
Hong Kong.
The ITUC
wrote
directly
(http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ITUC_letter_to_HKSAR_Government_re_Bar_Bend
ing_Workers_-_24_August_2007.pdf)
to the Hong Kong SAR Government on 24
August to urge them
to support
negotiations.
ends