Felixstowe, England’s most important container port, has ground to a halt for eight days. Unions have called a strike to protest against dockworkers’ not getting a suitable pay rise to match the current inflation rate, which was over 10% in July and is expected to hit 13% in October, the highest level ever among G7 countries.
1,900 workers represented by Unite have folded their arms in protest. The average dockworker pay is £43,000. Employees had been offered a 7% pay rise, plus a £500 one-off lumpsum.
According to Unite, this offer is not sufficient. The strike, which began Sunday morning, the first in Felixstowe since 1989, will have obvious repercussions on the logistics and goods distribution chain in the country.
According to Unite union secretary Sharon Graham Felixstowe docks are extremely profitable. She said that the most recent figures showed that in 2020 they had made 61 million pounds (about 72 million euros) in profits. “Its parent company, CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd, is so wealthy that, in the that same year it handed out 99 million pounds to its shareholders. So they can give Felistowe workers a decent pay rise”
Translation by Giles Foster
