Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- Hundreds of dock workers demanding better pay and working conditions entered a seventh day of strikes in Hong Kong Wednesday , crippling the world 's third busiest container port and causing widespread shipping delays . About 500 workers and their supporters gathered outside Hong Kong 's Kwai Tsing Container Terminal , where workers demanded a 15 % pay increase and a collective bargaining relationship with the container terminal operator , Hong Kong International Terminals ( HIT ) , according to the strike organizer , Chan Chiu-wai of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions . HIT employs the workers through a number of contractors . Company officials said that the port was losing about $ 640,000 a day and the strike is causing berthing delays of up to 60 hours , according to the South China Morning Post . HIT is a subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings Trust , which is owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing 's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. HIT did not respond to CNN 's questions Wednesday . Chan said that dock workers were presently paid $ 167 per day for 24 consecutive hours of work , less that than they received in 1997 . `` We have been asking to talk with them for a very long time but both the terminal and the contractors have refused to talk to us , '' said Chan . `` This is an indefinite strike , we have no time limit and we will strike until our demands are fulfilled . '' Chan said staff often work shifts of up to 72 consecutive hours during high-season . `` For this work , the salary is very low , the working conditions are very poor and the hours are very long , so we are often in the position of being understaffed and the workers have to work many hours overtime , '' Chan added . HIT dismissed claims that workers were being paid less now than they were in 1997 . `` 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 . The workers have attracted many supporters among student unions and pro-democracy parties in Hong Kong . The Hong Kong Federation of Students have organized donation and supply collection points outside major train stations . Hong Kong 's pro-democracy Labour Party is also supporting the strike . `` We have raised HK $ 1.2 million ( $ 154,000 ) so far to support the workers and we are paying them ( HK ) $ 1,000 a day during the strike , '' said Lee Cheuk-yan , Labour Party chairman . `` We have also just gained the support of the International Trade Union Confederation and it 's a very encouraging development . We are confident the strike will not be easily displaced . '' More than 100 dock workers , including crane operators and stevedores , went on strike inside the Kwai Tsing Container terminal on March 28 , demanding a $ 1.60 per hour raise . More workers have since joined the action , but they were forced to set up camp outside the port after a Hong Kong court granted HIT a temporary court injunction on April 1 banning unionists and their supporters from entering any of the four Kwai Tsing container terminals .
Dock workers in Hong Kong 's are striking for the seventh day , crippling port operations . Hundreds workers outside the world 's third largest port are demanding a 15 % pay increase . Kwai Tsing Container is estimating berthing delays of 24 consecutive hours . Strikers attract groundswell of support from pro-democracy parties and students .