Port of Liverpool dock workers to stage fresh strikes

The Port of Liverpool covers two container terminals

Dock workers said they would stage two more weeks of strike action in a row over pay and jobs.

Almost 600 Liverpool port workers will walkout again from 24 October until 7 November, said union Unite.

An offer from port owner Peel Ports was worth about 8.2% and a real-terms wage cut because of inflation, it said.

The firm which was considering redundancies said it was "disappointed" as its offer was worth more than 10% "greater than any UK port".

It said a redundancy consultation process announced last week at the port was "extremely regrettable" but unavoidable, due to economic pressures.

Nearly 600 workers from the containers division are currently taking industrial action until 17 October.

Unite said Peel should "put a proper offer on the table".

Sharon Graham, Unite's general secretary, said: "Peel Holdings is hugely profitable and can absolutely afford to pay our members a proper wage increase.

"Instead of negotiations to resolve this dispute, the company has chosen to threaten jobs and repeatedly mislead about the deal it has tabled."

She said members were "standing firm", adding: "The company must put forward a pay rise they can accept or this strike continues."

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David Huck, chief operating officer at Peel Ports, said: "Unite's decision to call a further two-week strike, against a backdrop of dramatic reductions in container volumes, is entirely self-defeating.

"The union's refusal to allow an independent postal ballot of the whole workforce on our final 10.2% pay increase is very telling.

"This pay offer is greater than that of any UK port and we are disappointed they are resorting to the old fashioned, mass meeting show-of-hands, when we believe every single worker deserves the chance to have their say, without undue influence."

The Port of Liverpool covers two container terminals, the Royal Seaforth Container Terminal and Liverpool2.