MP Kim Johnson slammed Labour leader Keir Starmer in a fiery speech at the Port of Liverpool, where dock workers are fighting for better pay and working conditions.
The Riverside MP joined the picket line outside Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) in Seaforth this morning, where hundreds of workers are currently on strike over a 8.3% pay rise offer which they say amounts to a pay cut as it is not in line with the current rate of inflation.
She said: "I'm proud to have been elected as a Labour MP. I'm a socialist MP. I'm a member of the socialist campaign group and I bring solidarity and support, and I will tell you that Keir Starmer will not stop me from being on a picket line.
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As people cheered, she added: "I agree Keir Starmer's got no balls."
Her comments followed Mr Starmer's decision to ban his shadow ministers from appearing at picket lines.
In July, then-shadow transport minister Sam Tarry hours was sacked from his shadow cabinet role just a few hours after joining striking rail workers on a picket line in London.
Ms Johnson added: "We are the Labour Party, we were born out of the trade union movement and he needs to remember that.
"We're brothers and sisters, and we are in a terrible time at the moment, and what we're seeing today with the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company is corporate greed and corporate lies. They made millions, the shareholders have taken millions, and yet the workers are getting nothing, and we need to fight with all our brothers and sisters from the other unions. All of them are in the same position.
"RMT, their rail workers, they have taken loads of money out of their pockets. and given it to their shareholders. We're seeing it time and time again, and we need to fight, because we know as the new PM Liz Truss is going to make things even worse for us as workers, worse for our trade union movement, and we need to fight back."
The Liverpool docks strike is expected to continue until October 3 - with further strike action possible if an agreement between MDHC and its staff cannot be reached.
The company, which is owned by Peel Ports, made more than £30m in profits in 2021.
A spokesman said it had created 900 new skilled jobs and supported an additional 7,200 local workers over the past decade. They said: "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."
But Unite the Union general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Workers across the country are sick to death of being told to take a hit on their wages and living standards while employer after employer is guilty of rampant profiteering.”
Kier Starmer's office declined to comment.
Ms Johnson said in a statement: "Keir Starmer won't be stopping me standing in solidarity with workers in dispute over attacks on their pay, terms and conditions.
"As the leader of the Labour Party, the political party built on the backs of the unions to represent the working class, I wish Keir Starmer would have the courage and commitment to stand with the dockers, the railworkers, the postal workers and all the other groups of workers balloting at present because enough is enough!"
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