A union on Monday warned of more strikes at Britain’s largest container port if wage demands are not met, and threats of further supply chain disruptions.
Workers at the port of Felixstowe in south-east England began an eight-day strike over wages on Sunday, as part of recent industrial action as decades of inflation exacerbates the country’s cost-of-living crisis.
They say the salary offer they’ve received hasn’t kept pace with inflation – which has risen to over 10 percent – and includes a one-time lump sum payment.
“If we don’t get what we want to get there will be more strikes,” Robert Morton, national union officer for the Unite union, told Sky News.
“We asked for a minimum inflation rate,” Morton said.
Almost 2,000 unionized workers at the port in eastern England, including crane drivers, machine operators and stevedores, are taking part in Felixstowe’s first strike since 1989.
It comes amid disruptions to wages and working conditions across various UK sectors, with railway workers not going on strike until Thursday and Saturday this week.
The strike comes after Covid and post-Brexit labor shortages have already hit the UK supply chain.
Morton said he accepted that further strikes at Felixstowe would mean “serious disruption to the supply chain”, while he said the strike will end once the port agrees to meet to negotiate.
The Port of Felixstowe said in a statement on Friday it was “disappointed” that the strike had taken place and called its offer of pay rises averaging eight per cent “fair”.
It said it “regrets the impact this measure will have on UK supply chains”.
Pal Davey, the port’s head of corporate affairs, told Sky News on Monday that average pay at the port was “40 per cent above the national average” and workers had been given a “very fair offer”.
“Our workers have been far better able to weather the cost of living storm than the majority of workers in the rest of the country,” he said.
Strikes against wage adjustment inflation are taking place in a variety of sectors.
Even defense lawyers representing clients in court have gone on strike.
On Monday her union, The Criminal Bar Association, announced that its members voted to escalate their action and will indefinitely stop taking new cases from September 6.
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