Shenzhen container workers end strike after getting raise
Several hundred workers at a major southern Chinese port have ended a strike after securing a pay raise and receiving clearance to organize a union, news reports and an employee at the port operator said yesterday.
Crane operators at the Yantian International Container Terminals, or YICT, near the southern town of Shenzhen stopped working from Friday evening to the early hours of Sunday, a man who answered the phone at the port's offices said.
The employee said the strike was resolved but added that he did not have information on what the workers demanded and what concessions management made.
"We reached an agreement," he said. He declined to give his name because he was not authorized.
The employee said he did not know how many workers went on strike and that the port was still assessing how badly the strike affected its operations.
Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po newspaper said more than 300 workers went on strike.
Citing anonymous sources, it reported that management agreed to raise wages by 3 percent.
The South China Morning Post reported the workers also won the right to organize a union.
The Post quoted an unnamed worker at the Yantian port as questioning whether the union will protect workers.
"The general trade union of Shenzhen and the management will set up the union, not the workers themselves. We don't even have the right to elect the union head," he was quoted as saying.
Crane operators at the Yantian International Container Terminals, or YICT, near the southern town of Shenzhen stopped working from Friday evening to the early hours of Sunday, a man who answered the phone at the port's offices said.
The employee said the strike was resolved but added that he did not have information on what the workers demanded and what concessions management made.
"We reached an agreement," he said. He declined to give his name because he was not authorized.
The employee said he did not know how many workers went on strike and that the port was still assessing how badly the strike affected its operations.
Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po newspaper said more than 300 workers went on strike.
Citing anonymous sources, it reported that management agreed to raise wages by 3 percent.
The South China Morning Post reported the workers also won the right to organize a union.
The Post quoted an unnamed worker at the Yantian port as questioning whether the union will protect workers.
"The general trade union of Shenzhen and the management will set up the union, not the workers themselves. We don't even have the right to elect the union head," he was quoted as saying.