In England, there’s still a lot of unrest on the docks. Workers at the Port of Liverpool have in fact announced two more weeks of strike action starting today.
British dockers have been asking for a pay rise to bring their salaries in line with the current inflation rate, but negotiations with their employer, the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, have so far failed to produce any tangible results.
According to David Huck, CEO of Peel Ports, the company that manages MDHC, progress had been made towards settling the dispute with his company offering an 11% pay rise. “This was the highest percentage increase of any port group in the UK by far” he continued, pointing out that if UNITE had accepted the proposal, the average annual docker pay would have risen to £43,325.
But the union accuses Peel Ports of being unreliable: “The talks ended in a farce”, said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham:“The deal agreed between Unite and senior management being pulled by the board. Strike action by our members and with the full support of Unite will go ahead.” She said hat Peel Ports “untrustworthy behaviour” and its attempts to threaten the workforce, had only made matters worse.
This is not the first time that dockers have taken industrial action in Liverpool. At the end of September, over 560 dock workers went on strike for a fortnight due to unfair pay conditions.
Translation by Giles Foster
