MADRID, August 5 (EUROPEAN PRESS) –
Nearly 2,000 workers at the port of Felixstowe, the largest infrastructure for maritime freight transport in the UK, with about 48 per cent of container traffic, had been called on to an eight-day strike in late August after failing to reach an agreement on increased wages for employees.
British trade union Unite has announced a call for a strike at the port of Felixtowe for more than 1,900 affiliated workers, which will start on Sunday, August 21 and end on Monday, August 29.
The workers protest was in response to the lack of agreement in negotiations during the conciliation process, after Felixstowe Dock & Railway Company, a subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings, did not increase its offer of a 7 percent wage increase, less than the real inflation rate (RPI) of 11.8 percent.
In this regard, the union recalls that the employment relationship is “already strained”, as workers only received a 1.4 percent pay increase last year.
“Both Felixstowe Docks and its parent company CK Hutchison Holding are very profitable and very wealthy,” Unite Secretary General Sharon Graham said, adding that the company had prioritized paying out millions of dollars in dividends over paying living wages to its workers.
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