在發動罷工之後，職工盟立即得到了600多萬元捐款，李卓人對於金錢來源諱莫如深，絕口不提。其實，職工盟獲得在英國成立的國際運輸工人聯會（International Transport Workers' Federation， ITF）支持。這暴露了這些金錢來源和政治意圖，不僅僅要癱瘓香港貨櫃碼頭，還要把西方工會勢力延伸入香港和內地，隨時可以與西方航運業工會聯手行動，東方和西方一起配合，打擊中國出口貿易和貨運業務。ITF一百多年來，主要活動範圍包括芬蘭、斯堪的納維亞半島、英國、澳洲等。這個工會聯盟的勢力一直不能夠伸入亞洲地區，更加不能伸入中國港口。國際運輸工人聯會策略就是，利用世界各地貨櫃碼頭發起罷工行動，控制船東與該組織簽訂協議，提高工資。如果船東不屈服，就動員其他港口的碼頭工人罷工，拒絕為船東卸貨。近年大部分貨運活動，已經轉到中國，怎樣攻入亞洲地區，特別是中國港口，就成為了這個西方工會的戰略考慮。葵涌貨櫃碼頭罷工就是前奏。
Margaret Thatcher 'planned miners battle as soon as she became prime minister'
The Iron Lady was forced to hold off miners' confrontation until gaining the upper hand in second term of office, her official biography has claimed
Archive image of the 1984 miners' strike
Margaret Thatcher began plotting to defeat the coal miners from the day she took office, according to her official biography published today.
The new Prime Minister put her deputy, Willie Whitelaw, in charge of the preparations for a showdown with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
However she was forced to postpone the confrontation until her second term of office after warnings that she was not in a strong enough position to win.
The details are disclosed in Margaret Thatcher, The Authorised Biography – Volume One: Not For Turning, by former Daily Telegraph editor, Charles Moore.
Mr Moore was given full access to all her personal and government papers as well as interviewing her, her family and those who worked most closely with her.
According to the book, when she entered office in May 1979, she was determined to avenge the defeat of Edward Heath’s Conservative government, which was brought down by the NUM five years earlier.
Margaret Thatcher
“She summoned Willie Whitelaw and Sir Robert Wade-Gery, the Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet and announced: ‘The last Conservative government was destroyed by the miners’ strike, and we’ll win. And you, Willie, will do it’,” Mr Moore wrote.
As chairman of the of the Civil Contingencies Unit, Mr Whitelaw tried to draw up “strategic principles and practical measures”. However he was hampered by the Treasury which wanted to run down coal production rather than build up stocks for a strike.
In Whitehall, there was little enthusiasm for a confrontation. Sir Robert recalled people were saying “The woman’s mad. You can’t win miners’ strikes. All you can do is buy them off”.
In September 1980, Energy Secretary David Howell presented his plans within government for closing down uneconomic, high-cost pits.
Mrs Thatcher was unimpressed, writing on her copy of the document “Thin”.
Nevertheless by February 1981 it was clear that they could be sufficient to provoke a new miners’ strike – backed by their allies, the steelworkers and the railwaymen.
At this point, Mrs Thatcher’s trusted press secretary, Bernard Ingham, stepped in to warn her that they were trying to do “too much, too quickly”.
At meetings on February 16 and 18, it became clear that the government was just not ready for a strike and the coal stocks could not withstand one.
“As Howell remembered the first meeting, Mrs Thatcher held up a copy of the Evening Standard which Mr Ingham brought in with the words, ‘That’s that, then, isn’t it?’ The headline proclaimed, ‘Government dithers’,” the book states.
“Mrs Thatcher said, ‘Bring it to an end, David. Make the necessary concessions’. Without Cabinet discussion, she decided to give in.”
Mr Howell said that while he resented her anger towards him for his handling of the matter, he believed she was right to “cut and run” as “we just weren’t ready”.
It was, however, a confrontation postponed. The showdown with the NUM had to await her second term following her 1983 general election victory.
Owen Smith, Shadow Welsh Secretary, said: “This merely confirms what we’ve known all along: that Mrs Thatcher coldly and calculatedly set out to provoke a conflict with the miners in order to break the union and close the pits that provided employment for so many in our communities.
“Vengeance for the miners’ strikes of the early 1970s and their impact on the Tory Government was clearly her primary motive, rather than any high-minded attempt to reform the British economy or industrial relations, and many in Wales will never be able to forgive her for the manner in which the miners were treated or for the compassionless and precipitate way in which the pits were subsequently shut down.”
10. PN 2013-04-23 14:25:51
My Philippino/Indonesian domestic worker came to me last week and said: "Sir / Mom, I need a salary of x% because my working condition is poor: The kitchen and my room is not air-conditioned like yours. My room is indeed too small as well. My working hours are too long......
I know Sir and Mom are making at least xxx,xxx for the last many years and this apartment, which you have purchased xx years ago must have made you millions in HKD. Of course you won't be mking that much fortune without me to clean you house and cook you food for that many years. Yet you had been paying me tiny little few k a month. In addition to pay rise, I will only work for 9 hrs a day <9 by 6 preferred. I mean the dinner will be ready by 6 pm and I will do the dishes the next day etc> and 6 days a week."
After I let her down on her request, she is on strike right now and she is camping outside of my apartment with banner declaring me as "Class enemy Nr. 2". She just informed me if I am not positively responding to her request by 6pm today, her husband and her x kids will be camping outside of my office at 99/F CKC starting tomorrow.
11. mini 2013-04-23 14:48:10
Have a look about the recent sentiment & requests from the public below. So far, the strike of the workers of the container port has given us a lesson of operational management. HKG should have some tasks to take...
In fact, the 23% salary raise request from the worker is a very unreasonable request under the current job market. I suggest their boss to fire all workers who join the strike. Of course, he needs to compensate them under the labor law and the recuit new workers to replace them. Anyway, they are not doing the very high skill job. The boss should be able to train new workers to replace them in short time.
