November 21 - Workers set up a 24-hour picket in the Central MTR Station for the duration of the strike.

November 23 - When the Chief Executive Director of ISS (HK) refused to meet with workers and attempted to leave the office, the workers blocked the doors and exits and demanded that he live up to his responsibility.

November 26 - A new picket was set up outside the building housing the ISS (HK) office while workers waited for the outcome of negotiations

Poverty wages:
ISS (HK) cleaning workers are paid an average monthly wage of only HK$3,000 (US$384), with some receiving as little as HK$2,800 (US$359). This is for full-time, daily shifts of up to 10 hours. These wages are below the average income for blue collar workers in Hong Kong, falling into the lowest income-earning group - what the Hong Kong Social Security Society classifies as "the working poor."

From November 21 to 30, over 200 workers employed by a cleaning contractor in the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) waged a historic strike – the first organised strike action by cleaning workers in Hong Kong in 20 years. What made this even more significant was that the workers were employed by ISS (International Service Systems), the largest cleaning services company in the world. ISS is headquartered in Denmark and employs 265,000 people in 36 countries.

The contract that ISS (HK) held with the MTR was set to expire on November 30, affecting 517 cleaning workers. According to the Hong Kong Employment Ordinance workers employed for more than two years are entitled to severance pay. Of the 517 workers affected, 352 were employed by ISS for more than two years and so are legally entitled to severance pay.

An exception in the Employment Ordinance allows the employer to not pay severance entitlements if employees are re-assigned to new positions. In the lead-up to the termination of its contract with the MTR, ISS re-assigned 352 cleaning workers to new jobs commencing on December 1. However, when the 352 workers received the re-assignment letters all of them were re-located to districts furthest from their current work station. For example, workers working in Kowloon were re-assigned to Hong Kong Island and vice versa. After receiving the letters the workers clearly understood that this was no coincidence and that the management wanted to make it difficult for them to continue. By forcing them to commute long distances (for night shifts), workers would be put in a position of having to resign, especially since the majority of the workers are middle-aged women with families. So the workers approached HKCTU's Hong Kong Buildings Management & Security Workers General Union for assistance in fighting for their severance pay before they are forced to resign one-by-one. The total severance pay demanded was HK$4 million (US$512,000).

The workers elected a 10-person committee on November 5 to organise the campaign and represent them in negotiations with management.

At a general meeting attended by 200 workers on November 15 it was decided that a series of protest actions would be taken. In the two days following this meeting 350 workers signed a petition demanding severance pay instead of re-assignment. A protest and sit-in was held in the Central MTR Station on November 18. The ISS management was given until November 21 to respond to the workers' demands, or strike action would begin. The deadline passed without a response from the company, so the workers began their strike action, setting up a permanent picket in the Central MTR Station.

On November 23, the workers went to the ISS office for negotiations. The Chief Executive Director of ISS (HK), Gregory Rooke, refused to meet directly with the workers' delegation and trade union representatives, even though Labour Department officials were present. He refused even to sit in the same room with them. Rooke said that his high management position meant he did not have to deal with workers. His attitude angered the workers' representatives who said, "Because we're cleaners he treats us like garbage!"

After more than three hours Rooke still had not sat down to begin negotiations and at 9pm announced he was leaving the office. The workers' delegation blocked the doors and exits and prevented him from leaving. Eventually, another three hours later, well past midnight, Rooke only agreed to talk to the HKCTU Chief Executive – but not the workers. When the management finally signed a letter agreeing that negotiations could be held on November 26, the workers ended their occupation.

On its website ISS claims to support an "open dialogue on equal terms between management and employees." The company signed the United Nations Global Compact on human rights in 1999. But the refusal of the ISS (HK) Chief Executive Director to even speak to the workers for the nine hours they were in the ISS office, and his outright rejection of any negotiations whatsoever clearly demonstrates that ISS's claim to "open dialogue on equal terms between management and employees" is false.

On November 26, the workers' delegates, trade union representatives and 100 workers went to the ISS (HK) office for the promised negotiations. Only 20 were allowed inside and the others remained outside the building surrounded by security guards and police. After five hours the management still refused to consider the workers' demands and the talks broke down.

Before the final day of the strike, ISS management made what they claimed to be a "reasonable" offer. On November 28, ISS Managing Director for International, Overseas, Jan Vistisen, flew in from Denmark for negotiations. A lump sum payment of HK$500,000 (US$64,100) was put forward by the management as their final offer. This amounted to only a small proportion of the HK$4 million (US$512,800) demanded by the 350 affected workers.

A lump sum of HK$500,000 meant that workers would receive less than HK$2,000 (US$256) each. The workers rejected this, since it was only one-eighth of the severance pay they are entitled to. When this offer was made the management ruled out any possibility of strike pay. In reality, the workers had lost 10 days' pay – on average HK$1,000 each. So the actual sum they would gain from this offer would only be HK$1,000 (US$128).
The meeting was adjourned and Sister Wong Yim-fong, as the workers' delegate participating in negotiations, submitted the proposal to a general meeting of the striking workers that night. The workers angrily rejected the offer, shouting, "We're not beggars! Pay us what we're owed!" The decision taken by the workers was to reject the company's offer.

The following morning negotiations were resumed and Sister Wong informed the management that the offer was voted down by the workers. The management broke off any further talks and Vistisen returned to Denmark.

The underlying issue in the strike is the workers' lack of trust in the company's promises and their preference for dismissal and severance pay rather than continued employment. At a time of economic recession and growing unemployment in Hong Kong, the workers' demand for dismissal reflects the extent of their anger and frustration with the company. This is based on the past employment practices of ISS (HK).

In Hong Kong ISS has always used a strategy of re-assignment to far and inconvenient locations as a means of forcing employees to resign. Workers with up to 15 years' employment with ISS (HK) point out that they have never known any of their colleagues to retire with severance pay. In every instance they were re-assigned to an inconvenient work location and resigned.

Although the strike technically ended when the ISS contract with the MTR expired, the workers have continued their protest actions and will establish a new union within HKCTU's Hong Kong Buildings Management & Security Workers General Union in order to carry on their struggle.