UK Port Workers Plan Two-week Strike

More than 560 dockworkers at the Port of Liverpool, one of Britain's largest container ports, will go on strike from Sept. 19 to Oct. 3 over pay, the Unite union said on Friday, adding to a summer of industrial unrest caused by soaring inflation.

"Workers across the country are sick to death of being told to take a hit on their wages and living standards," Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said in a statement.

"MDHC needs to think again, table a reasonable offer and fulfil its previous pay promises," she added, referring to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company.

The planned Liverpool strike follows an eight-day walkout last month by workers at Felixstowe, Britain's largest container port, which clogged supply lines but fell short of causing widespread disruption in an industry already facing supply chain issues.

The strike will "severely disrupt" shipping and road transport in Liverpool and surrounding areas, Unite said.

The workers, comprising port operatives and maintenance engineers, are striking over a 7% pay offer they say amounts to an effective "pay cut" with inflation reaching double digits. They also say MDHC has failed to honor a 2021 pay deal.

MDHC parent Peel Ports said it had offered a pay package of 8.3% on top of a 4.5% pay increase last year and other improvements to shifts, sick pay and pensions.

"Our pay offer is well above the national average and represents a sustainable position for the business, taking into account stagnation in the container market, worldwide economic pressures, the conflict in Ukraine and global shipping disruption," Peel Ports Chief Operating Officer David Huck said in a statement.

(Reuters - Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar and Jonathan Saul; Editing by Alistair Smout and William James)