Unite says the strike is to take place after workers “overwhelmingly rejected management’s attempt to impose a pay deal”.
“Last week the management at the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company unilaterally ended pay talks after refusing to improve its pay offer and instead announced that it was imposing a pay deal of seven per cent on the workforce. The imposed pay deal is in reality a sizeable pay cut with the current real inflation rate (RPI) standing at 12.3 per cent,” says Unite.
According to the union, its 1,900 members working at the port were surveyed regarding the aforementioned offer. 82% voted to reject the deal, with 78% of those surveyed responding.
The next 8-day strike shall begin at 07:00 on Tuesday 27 September and end at 06:59 on Wednesday 5 October.
Commenting on the announcement of another 8-day strike, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:
“Felixstowe and CK Hutchison are both eye-wateringly wealthy but rather than offer a fair pay offer, they have instead attempted to impose a real terms pay cut on their workers. Since the beginning of this dispute Unite has given its total support to its members at Felixstowe and that will continue until this dispute is resolved.”
In its statement, Unite repeated its view that the owner of Felixstowe Port is fully able to pay its workers a fair pay increase as its accounts for 2021 reveal that it made record profits of £79 million. The union added that the latest accounts of CK Hutchison show it had a turnover of £30 billion.
Unite national officer for docks Bobby Morton added:
“The latest strike action is entirely of Felixstowe’s own making. Rather than seeking to negotiate a deal to resolve the dispute, the company instead tried to impose a pay deal. Further strike action will inevitably lead to delays and disruption to the UK’s supply chain but this is entirely of the company’s own making.”
At the end of last month, data from supply chain visibility platform FourKites showed the last Felixstowe Port strike resulted in container waiting times rising by 82% in just 5 days.
Photo: Martin Cooper / Flickr / CC BY 2.0