A wage dispute involving some 300 crane drivers at the city's Yantian container port was resolved yesterday, after their employer met their demands.

The dispute began Friday night with the drivers refusing to work, causing container processing to come to a standstill Saturday night.

A spokesman for Yantian International Container Terminals Ltd. said the dispute hadn't seriously affected the daily operation, although he expected the action had delayed at least 10,000 containers.

The crane drivers asked for a pay rise Friday night and refused to negotiate with the company's representative.

They first gathered at the company's parking lots, and later moved to a canteen at midnight.

"Crane drivers asked for a 1,000-yuan increase in their monthly salary, together with a bonus and housing allowance rise, and payment for working overtime," a press release issued by the company said.

The city's Party chief Li Hongzhong and Mayor Xu Zongheng asked the employer to attach great importance to the workers' demands and solve the dispute quickly.

Vice Mayors Zhang Siping and Li Ming, and heads of several departments of the municipal government, including the labor and social security bureau and transport bureau went to the scene to negotiate with workers.

Li Ming promised strikers' representatives that the city government would supervise and urge the employer to fulfill the agreement.

Strikers returned to work after the employer promised to raise their salary.

The strike delayed at least 10,000 containers, accounting for half of the Yantian port's daily workload. A number of cargo ships waiting to unload containers had to queue during the dispute.

Yantian container port processed over 8.29 million containers last year.

Editor: Yan