Around 600 Liverpool port workers will stage an additional seven days of industrial action next month.
Unite the Union confirmed that senior control room operators and control room operators at the Port of Liverpool will join port operatives and engineer colleagues in a week-long strike on October 11. In addition, the port’s dock masters, shift managers and vessel traffic services officers are also preparing to be balloted for strike action.
More than 500 workers have already staged a walkout in the past two weeks over pay and conditions. The new action has been prompted by anger at a pay offer of around 8.3%, by Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC), deemed a pay cut by union officials.
MDHC is part of the Peel Group which operates the Port of Liverpool. The workers undertake all forms of port operations and are fully involved in the loading and unloading of the containers on site.
Staff have warned that industrial action on this scale would leave the port “inoperable”. One union official said this would be solely the result of MDHC’s “insufficient” pay offer.
Workers have also expressed their discontent at what they describe as a failure to honour a pay agreement struck in 2021. Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, said: “The anger among MDHC’s staff at the greed of this hugely profitable firm and its billionaire owner John Whittaker reaches from one end of the company to the other.
“Our members will not back down and neither will Unite. MDHC needs to keep its previous pay promises and put forward a proper pay rise now.”
The strikes are the latest in a series of walkouts by unions across Merseyside this year, with bus drivers from Arriva and RMT members also leaving their posts in a dispute over pay and conditions. A walkout is planned by rail staff this weekend.
Steven Gerrard, Unite national coordinator for free ports, said: “The disruption caused to the port of Liverpool and the supply lines that depend on it is entirely the fault of MDHC and Peel Ports. If even more staff walk out over the company’s insufficient pay offer, the entire port will literally become inoperable.
“The company can afford to put forward an offer our members can accept and must do so.”
Workers at the picket line last week vowed to go on "as long as it takes" to get a fair deal. The ECHO contacted Peel Group for comment.
Previously David Huck, chief operating officer at Peel Ports, has said: “I am deeply disappointed Unite has rejected our significant pay package after many months of negotiation. This is bad news for our employees, families and other local employers.
“We fully recognise our colleagues’ concerns on the cost-of-living crisis, and that’s why we have responded with a pay package that represents a 10% average increase in annual pay. The Port of Liverpool is a major employer in the Liverpool City Region.
“We have invested more than £1.2 billion over the last decade, transforming the prosperity of the region, creating more than 900 new skilled jobs and, in turn, supporting more than 7,200 additional local jobs in the supply chain. We urge the union to work with us at the negotiating table so that together we can find a resolution."
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