Workers at the Port of Felixstowe strike for the first time in over 30 years. It is the largest maritime and commercial hub for containers in the UK, which started one on Sunday 21 August strike which will last for eight long days. The union action was staged as part of a call for higher wages amid skyrocketing inflation. The land of the Queen, in fact, is the scene of one of the most acute cost-of-living crisis of their history, with the inflation rate reaching a 40-year record, exceeding 10% in July. But the worst hasn't come yet. The Bank of England has forecast that it will exceed 13% this year, the highest level among the G7 countries, plunging the British economy into a long recession.
The strike, according to what was announced by the shipping companies themselves, could seriously compromise trade and the supply chains, causing disruption and shockwaves across the UK and beyond.
Strikes continue in the UK against rising bills
The United Kingdom is currently experiencing a new wave of massive strikes in transport, post, ports, the largest strike movement in recent decades in the face of inflation.
Crossing their arms in this case are nearly 2.000 crane operators, machinery operators and other dock workers in the east of England – which handles an average of 4 million containers a year from 2.000 vessels representing more than half of the maritime transport entering the PAES – they left work as early as Sunday.
The dispute has raised fears of supply chain problems and comes as the transport sector is already grappling with work stoppages: only one in five trains circulated in the UK on Saturday due to a railway strike.
Postal workers are also planning a four-day strike later this month, while the mail giant BT telecommunications he recently faced his first stop in decades. The warehouse workers of Amazon, criminal lawyers and garbage collectors I am among those who have gone on strike in recent weeks.
UK strike, Felixstowe workers: "Higher wages"
"The strike action will cause huge disruption and generate major shocks throughout the UK supply chain, but this dispute is entirely the business of the company," he told Reuters news agency. Bobby Morton, national port manager of the Unite trade union, which represents striking Felixstowe workers. “The firm had every opportunity to make our members a fair offer, but chose not to,” Morton said.
For its part, the port of Felixstowe, which is owned by CK Hutchison Holding Ltd, said in a statement that he was "disappointed" that the protest went ahead and called his offer of 8% average pay rises "fair". "The port offers secure, well-paid work and there will be no winners from this pointless industrial action," he added.
“Felixstowe docks are extremely profitable. The most recent figures show that in 2020 they made £61m (about €72m) in profits,” said the Unite union secretary, Sharon Graham. “Its parent company, CK Hutchison Holding Ltd, is so wealthy that it paid out £99m in dividends to its shareholders that same year. So I believe he is able to give the workers of Felixstowe a fair wage increase,” added Graham.
The business counterpart said it had asked the union to suspend the strike and to sit down at a negotiating table "to find a solution".
UK strike: supply chains at risk
Linking from Felixstowe, Harry Fawcett of Al Jazeera said: “Workers are struggling, as are many across the UK, with this rampant rise in the cost of living both in terms of goods inflation but also really appalling increases in the cost of fuel for women's homes. people".
However, he added, the strike could worsen an already precarious situation. Indeed, the first consequences were not long in coming: the maritime group Maersk, one of the world's largest container carriers, warned that the action would have a significant effect, causing operational delays and forcing the firm to alter its fleet of vessels.
“This is a hugely important port, especially in terms of textile products, but also all kinds of products that pass through here,” Fawcett said. “This action will, of course, make supply chains even more vulnerable and could be a factor rising inflation in the future".
