The industrial action that originated at Kwai Chung container port ended recently with an agreement between contractors and workers on a 9.8 percent increase in workers' pay. This time the contractors did not talk to the Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU), which organized the strike with a demand for a whopping 23 percent raise that was briskly rejected by the employers, but the CTU had to accept the deal or watch its show of radicalism fail in total disgrace.

The remaining contractors have begun training new dockhands to replace the striking workers; while many shipping companies and their customers have put Hong Kong's container port on the observation list in response to the grave situation created by the strike for their businesses. As a result the offload volume at the terminal has dropped noticeably and workers are faced with the prospect of shrinking income resulting from reduced working hours in the near future. As for the 130-odd workers employed by Global Stevedoring Service, one of the contractors targeted by the strike and forced to cease operations because of the staggering pay rise demand, they are now looking for jobs thanks to the CTU.

The CTU took radicalism to another level during the strike, which really had nothing to do with serving the workers' interest to begin with. An industrial action should aim for pay increases in a pragmatic manner without costing workers their jobs or working hours. Now apparently CTU chief Lee Cheuk-yan took the striking workers on a wild ride to nowhere with a 23 percent pay rise as lure that was never meant to materialize but did put one contractor out of business and leave at least 130 workers jobless.

The 40-day strike proved a very taxing adventure for the workers, who would have made HK$30,000 had they stayed on their jobs instead of taking Lee's bait. Today they are totally spent physically and mentally while Lee counts the spoils of his latest con and looks forward to increased bargaining power for the CTU amongst opposition parties, as well as for himself with other "pan-democracy" big shots, and even foreign counterparts on the international labor movement stage.

The author is a current affairs commentator. This is an excerpted translation of his article published in Hong Kong Commercial Daily on May 14.

(HK Edition 05/15/2013 page1)