More workers joined the action, but they were forced outside the port after the local court granted HIT a temporary injunction on 1 April banning unionists and their supporters from entering any of the four Kwai Tsing container terminals.

[8] Chan Chiu-wai, an organiser of the Confederation of Trade Unions, said that dock workers earned $167 a day for 24 consecutive hours' work, less than they received in 1997.

[1] According to the strike leader, Lee Cheuk-yan general secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and also the Labour Party legislator and said the checker and lashing man was receiving only HK$1,310 per 24 hours.

"It's also wrong that their pay is now lower than in 1997 or during SARS," HIT general manager Gerry Yim Lui-fai told the South China Morning Post.

Subcontractors – who are not genuinely independent companies – are intermediaries used to put distance between HIT and workforce, to hold down wages and provide operational flexibility.

[15] The first meeting between the Union of Hong Kong Dockers and contractors were held under the mediation of the Labour Department on 10 April but broke off without any immediate progress.

[16] A second round of talks between striking dock workers and the contractors, mediated by the Labour Department, ended without agreement on 11 April, but both sides said they would consider each other's proposals.

[19] On 17 April, another round of talks between striking dock workers and the employers made little progress as the contractors rejected the 23-percent wage increase demanded by the CTU and stood firm of their seven-percent pay rise proposal.

[20] After the talks failed on 17 April, CTU members escalated their industrial action by setting up camp outside the Cheung Kong Center, where the Hutchison Whampoa Group is headquartered.

HIT took out full page advertisements in almost all local newspapers on 20 April, except the anti-government Apple Daily, not merely defending itself but making personal attacks on Lee Cheuk-yan claiming he is using the workers to further his own political ends.

[13] HIT's advertisement in the English-language press said union demands for a 20 percent raise would "create an impact across other industries and cause irreparable damage to Hong Kong.

"[14] Canning Fok, managing director of the Hutchsion Whampoa group, publicly alleged that Lee Cheuk-yan was not genuinely interested in helping the workers and harboured ulterior motives.

He criticised Lee for "resort[ing] to every means ... hoping that as the strike drags on, he can negotiate with Mr Li so as to boost his own publicity."

[14] On 1 May 2013, Hutchison Port Holdings group managing director John Meredith published an article in several Chinese-language newspapers said the strike was jeopardising Hong Kong's entrepot status.

[24] After 40 days of strike action, the union called an end to the dispute, having secured promises of a pay deal of 9.8 percent for all workers including non-strikers and improved working conditions.

The Hong Kong Federation of Students have organised donation and supply collection points outside major train stations.

[7] On 7 April, protesters marched from Victoria Park to Central carrying placards and modified images of Li Ka-shing's with devil's horns and the Chinese character for "monster" (妖) written across his forehead.

Yim said that the name of Sakoma – the HIT subsidiary that previously dealt with out-sourcing contracts – still appears on the entry passcards, and acknowledged it was a mistake for that name to be there.

[29] The programme Scoop on TVB, the dominant terrestrial television channel in Hong Kong, on 1 April drew criticism.