This is the first strike since 1989 at the Port of Felixstowe, and the latest in a series of industrial action to demand better wages.
A strike scheduled to last eight days began on Sunday at Britain’s biggest cargo port, the latest in a series of industrial action across many sectors demanding better wages in the face of record inflation. After three consecutive days of strikes having disrupted transport, in particular rail, it is the turn of the port of Felixstowe to be affected on Sunday.
This is the first strike since 1989 for this port located in the east of England, which handles around four million containers a year. Some 1,900 members of the Unite union including crane operators, machine operators and dockworkers have stopped work to demand pay hikes amid the UK’s cost of living crisis. Inflation reached 10.1% over one year in July and could exceed 13% in October, the highest level of a G7 country.
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“Felixstowe Docks are extremely profitable. Latest figures show that in 2020 they made £61m (nearly €72m) in profitsaid Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham. “Its parent company, CK Hutchison Holding Ltd, is so wealthy that in the same year it distributed £99 million to its shareholders. So they can give Felixstowe workers a decent pay raise“, she advanced. For their part, officials at the port of Felixstowe said to themselves “disappointed that Unite did not accept our offer to call off the strike and come to the table for constructive discussions to find a solution“.
The company said it offered a pay rise that it feels “just» by 8% on average and close to 10% for the lowest paid employees. The harbour’regrets the impact this action will have on UK supply chains» and claims to work with his clients to «limit disruption“. A port source, however, told the PA news agency that the strikes would be a “inconvenience and not a disastersaying the supply chain has been used to disruption since the pandemic.