Strikes at Port of Felixstowe extended

Port workers at the Port of Felixstowe have not yet resumed work following the eight-day strike that was due to end on Monday 29 August.

The management offered a 7% pay rise and a one-off £500 bonus before the strike. The unions did not agree and demanded a 12% increase. This led to a strike that was planned for the period 21 August to 29 August, but an extension has now been announced. There have been no reports of negotiations between the unions and FDRC management in the past week.

At the moment, the quays of Felixstowe are empty and cargo ships are anchored, waiting to dock.

Trade union Unite has announced that it will continue with the strikes until the management comes up with a wage increase of 10%. If the management does not take action Unite threatens to extend the strike to Liverpool. The dockworkers of Liverpool had already agreed to a strike.

Felixstowe handles around four million TEU per year, which is about half of the container throughput in Great Britain. As a result of the strike, road haulers in particular have seen a drop in their turnover; container inbound and outbound traffic for Felixstowe has been completely wiped out.

According to observers, the strike is having a major impact and the damage is currently estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.