AFP – A trade union yesterday warned of more strikes at the United Kingdom’s (UK) largest container port if pay demands are not met, threatening to cause further disruptions to the supply chain.
Workers at Felixstowe port in southeastern England began an eight-day strike over pay on Sunday, in the latest industrial action as decades-high inflation intensifies the country’s cost-of-living crisis. They said the pay offer they received does not keep up with inflation – which has surged above 10 per cent – and includes a one-off lump sum payment.
“If we don’t achieve what we’re trying to achieve, there will be more strikes,” national officer for the Unite union Robert Morton, told Sky News.
“We’ve been asking for a minimum of the rate of inflation,” Morton said.
Nearly 2,000 unionised employees at the port in eastern England, including crane drivers, machine operators and stevedores, are involved in the first strike at Felixstowe since 1989.
It comes amid stoppages over pay and working conditions across various UK industries, with railway workers just the latest to strike on Thursday and Saturday.
Morton said he accepted that further strikes at Felixstowe would mean “the supply chain will be severely disrupted”, while saying the strike will end as soon as the port agrees to meet for negotiations.
The Port of Felixstowe said in a statement on Friday that it was “disappointed” the walkout had gone ahead and called its offer of salary increases of on average eight per cent “fair”. It said it “regrets the impact this action will have on UK supply chains”.
Head of corporate affairs at the port Pal Davey told Sky News on yesterday that average pay at the port is “40 per cent higher than national average” and workers had been given a “very fair offer”.
Strike action over pay matching inflation is taking place in a wide range of sectors.
Even criminal lawyers who represent clients in court have launched strike action.
Yesterday, their union, The Criminal Bar Association announced its members had voted to escalate their action and will stop taking on any new cases indefinitely from September 6.
