Workers at Britain's biggest container port begin 8-day strike

LONDON • Workers at Britain's biggest container port, Felixstowe, yesterday began an eight-day strike over pay, in the country's latest industrial action as decades-high inflation intensifies the cost-of-living crisis.

Nearly 2,000 unionised employees at the port in eastern England, including crane drivers, machine operators and stevedores, started their walkout yesterday in the first strike at Felixstowe since 1989.

It comes amid stoppages over pay and working conditions across various industries in Britain, with railway workers just the latest to strike last Thursday and Saturday.

Postal workers are planning a four-day strike later this month, telecommunications giant BT will face its first stoppage in decades, while Amazon warehouse staff, criminal lawyers and refuse collectors are among others striking.

Demands for pay rises are driven by inflation, which hit a 40-year-high of above 10 per cent last month, as soaring food and energy prices hurt millions.

The Bank of England has forecast that inflation will top 13 per cent this year, tipping the British economy into a deep and long recession.

The global impact of the war in Ukraine on energy and food prices and, to a lesser extent, post-Brexit trade frictions are blamed for Britain's spiralling cost of living.

The Unite union representing the striking Felixstowe staff said the stoppage will have a big impact at the port, which handles around four million containers a year from 2,000 ships.

The union wants pay rises for its members at or near inflation rate, arguing that the docks are "enormously profitable".

"They can give Felixstowe workers a decent raise," said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, who added that the port's parent company, CK Hutchison Holdings, handed out nearly £100 million (S$165 million) to shareholders in 2020.

Meanwhile, the Port of Felixstowe said in a statement that it was "disappointed" the walkout had gone ahead and called its offer of salary increases of 8 per cent, on average, "fair".

"The port provides secure and well-paid employment and there will be no winners from this unnecessary industrial action," it added.

The port said it would have a contingency plan in place, and was working to minimise disruption during the walkouts, which will last until Aug 29.

The strike could disrupt more than US$800 million (S$1.1 billion) in trade, according to data and analytics company Russell Group.

Though it is too soon to evaluate any wider hit to growth, companies are anticipating longer delivery times and higher expenses that can only hurt Britain's inflation-ravaged economy.

"It's probably going to be an expense that we end up paying in the same way there were lots of knock-on costs of the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal," said Mr Gary Grant, founder of The Entertainer, a toy retailer with goods currently bound for Felixstowe.

"It's just a risk of being in business. You just have to get on with it and try to sell more toys."

Felixstowe had begun to ease congestion that built as the Covid-19 crisis roiled world trade, a trend reflected in reduced dwell times for containers, according to supply-chain visibility platform FourKites.

A strike will most likely reverse that progress, it said, citing similar labour actions in ports such as Melbourne and Montreal that boosted shipment duration from 15 per cent to 50 per cent.

Shipping group Maersk, one of the world's biggest container shippers, has warned that the action would have a significant impact, causing operational delays and forcing it to make changes to its vessel line-up.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE