Alexandra Dock, Bootle, part of the huge Liverpool dock system. Photo N. Johannes (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Nearly 600 workers at the Port of Liverpool decided to walk out from 24 October to 7 November over pay and job security. They also walked out between 11 and 17 October.
Against a backdrop of plummeting container volumes, the operator Peel Ports Group have offered a real-terms wage cut, issuing misleading information about a deal to the press. They have issued redundancy notices to 132 workers. Senior staff have joined the walkouts.
Unite says the employer MDHC (Mersey Docks and Harbour Company), part of Peel Ports, recently reported a record profit of £141 million, exceeding the wage bill for the year. More than £300 million in dividends has been paid in the past five years.