Workers at Britain’s largest container port will hold an eight-day strike at the end of August, union leaders said on Friday as part of the country’s latest industrial action over wages amid rising inflation.
“Workers at the Port of Felixstowe will go on strike later this month in a dispute over pay following peace talks… they have failed to come up with a decent offer,” union Unite said in a statement.
Over 1,900 workers will go on strike for eight days from August 21 to August 29, she added.
The union said the port operator, Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company, “has not improved its offer of a 7 per cent pay rise”, with inflation expected to hit 13 per cent later this year.
“Felixstowe Docks and its parent company CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd are both hugely profitable and incredibly wealthy. They are fully capable of paying the workforce a fair daily wage,” said Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary.
Felixstowe in east England is the UK’s largest container port, handling 48 per cent of the containers brought into the country.
“Strike action will cause tremendous disruption and create massive shockwaves across the UK supply chain, but this dispute is entirely the company’s own doing,” said Bobby Morton, Unite’s National Docks Officer.
The UK is mired in disputes over wages and working conditions and economic headwinds are set to intensify later this year.
Hundreds of workers at an Amazon warehouse in the UK smashed down tools on Thursday to protest an offer of a 35 pence (41 euro cents, 42 US cents) an hour raise.
GMB union said workers at the Tilbury warehouse in south-east England were seeking a £2 an hour increase to help them deal with the cost of living crisis.
Train workers recently brought the country’s network to a virtual standstill when they staged their biggest strike in three decades.
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