Hong Kong - Thousands of passengers were affected Saturday when baggage handlers and ground staff staged a three-hour strike in protest over pay cuts at Hong Kong International Airport.

Around 1,000 ground workers took part in the three-hour strike which left incoming passengers on one of the busiest weekends of the year unable to collect their luggage.

The action was staged by members of a union after their traditional two-month end of year bonus was halved by management because of the global economic crisis.

Thousands of arriving passengers were affected, airport sources said, as the strike from 1 pm Saturday caused long delays in the delivery of luggage to carousels.

"It was chaotic, and in the end we had to leave without our luggage and just leave a forwarding address for it to be delivered to," one passenger on an early afternoon flight from Malaysia said.

Legislator Ip Wai-ming, who has been negotiating on behalf of some 3,000 airport workers, said the action was taken because workers believed officials were not sincere in their negotiations.

The Hong Kong Airport Authority acknowledged that the action had caused delays and advised travellers to check with airlines before checking in for flights as the backlog was cleared Saturday.

Further strikes are expected in the busy Christmas and New Year holiday period as the union representing the workers tries to force the authority to back down on bonus cuts for workers.

Ground workers at Hong Kong airport earn an average of around 900 US dollars a month and were not consulted before the halving of their bonuses was announced, according to union representatives.

Hong Kong International Airport is the fifth busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger numbers. In 2007, it handled 47.8 million passengers and 3.74 million tons of cargo. (dpa)