Peel Ports, owner of Port of Liverpool, claimed that Unite the union had rejected an 11% pay offer, the highest percentage pay offer of any port group in the UK. The company also took issue with the union’s decision not to put the offer to a formal vote.
Peel Ports chief operating officer David Huck said: “Given we have now improved our offer six times and Unite have consistently blocked the involvement of ACAS to help arbitrate, you have to question whether the union really wants to resolve this damaging industrial action or is simply prolonging it for their own ends.”
Unite had a different take, claiming that the Peel Ports had reneged on a deal the two parties were working on in good faith.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The Unite team negotiated in good faith with Peel Ports. But the talks ended in farce, with the deal agreed between Unite and senior management being pulled by the board. Strike action by our members and with the full support of Unite will go ahead.
“Peel Ports’ untrustworthy behaviour and its attempts to threaten the workforce are only escalating the dispute.”
During the course of the ongoing dispute, Peel Ports has issued redundancy notices to 132 workers, an initiative that was proposed and dropped previously and a move Unite said makes no business sense.
Another two week strike begins on October 24, affecting container operations at the port.
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