Nearly 2,000 workers at Britain’s biggest container port began an eight-day strike over pay on Sunday after prices rose 10.1%, the highest in more than 40 years.
The workers, including crane drivers and machine operators, will go on strike at the port of Felixstowe on England’s east coast, which handles four million containers a year from 2,000 ships.
Thousands of rail workers are continuing their summer strike action to protest better pay and job security as people across the UK face travel disruptions for the third day this week.
It is estimated that only one in five UK trains will run today, with some areas without services all day. Football and cricket fans, sports-goers and tourists are among those most affected by the shutdown.
The disruptions continued on Sunday and union leaders acknowledged the possibility of further strikes.
On Friday, most of the metro lines remained non-functional due to individual shutdowns.
Felixstowe port owner CK Hutchison Holding Ltd has put profits ahead of paying workers decent wages, the Unite union says.
Port officials say they are “disappointed” that Unite “has not come to the table for constructive discussions to find a solution”.
Felixstowe is responsible for almost half of the containerized cargo entering the country. The stoppage will mean ships are diverted to the UK or other ports in Europe.
A growing number of unions are planning strikes as Britain faces its worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. The latest figures, published earlier this week, put inflation at 10.1%, and many Britons are struggling to cope with energy and food bills, whose prices have soared at a time when wages are already keeping the cost of living in check.
Postal workers, lawyers, employees of a British telecoms operator and garbage collectors have announced strike action at the end of this month.
Rail workers launched large-scale strikes that paralyzed national rail travel in June, demanding better wages and working conditions, as officials tried to reform the rail system, which has lost much of its revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic. and changing travel patterns.
The government and transport unions have been negotiating for months but no solution has been reached.
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