Strike action began at Port of Liverpool on October 11 and is set to run until October 17 as the port’s owners clash with unions over jobs and pay.
Peel Ports, which owns both the Port of Liverpool and The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) which employs the striking workers, accused Unite the union of rejecting an average pay increase of 10.2% in basic pay. Unite challenged that claim, telling Seatrade Maritime News that the last pay offer was an 8.2% increase.
The two sides are using different measures of inflation to support their causes, with Peel citing CPIH at 8.2% at the time of pay anniversary negotiations in June, and Unite citing current RPI at 12.3%.
Since the end of the last strike action at the port, which ran from September 19 to October 3, Peel Ports issued redundancy notices to 132 employees at the Port of Liverpool, blaming falling container volumes and market conditions.
Unite national officer Bobby Morton said of the notices: “Rather than enter into sensible negotiations, Peel Ports is making yet another cynical attempt to intimidate its workers. It is clear that they just want to avoid paying a fully affordable pay increase.”
Morton added that the redundancies had been proposed previously and then dropped, and that the port has already said it is looking to expand.
Unite argued that £30m in profit at the Port of Liverpool showed that the company was able to afford pay increases.
“The employer MDHC is part of Peel Ports, which recently reported a record profit before tax of £141 million, greater than the entire wage bill for the year. Peel Ports has paid out more than £300 million in dividends over the last five years.”
Peel Ports claimed that Unite had called for a pay increase of 15.7%, and that the union had refused to enter discussions with arbitration service ACAS. Unite told Seatrade Maritime News that Peel Ports made it clear it was unwilling to change its offer, and arbitration was off the table until the employer showed a willingness to alter its offer.
A spokesperson for Peel Ports, said: “Unite continues to make unrealistic and unsustainable above-inflation pay demands, whilst declining a meeting with ACAS.
“We are concerned Unite have no interest in resolving matters through the collective bargaining arrangements we have in place or via an independent ballot, as it continues to push for more strikes.”
FourKites said it saw a decrease in shipments arriving at Liverpool as its first strikes began late in September, with shipment arrivals dropping by 85% month-over-month.
During this time period, which included a strike at Felixstowe, other UK ports took a larger slice of the market, with Southampton growing from 13% to 24% of UK box volumes over the two-week period.
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