In the UK on Sunday 21st August, following the railway workers, around 2,000 workers at the country’s biggest container port, Felikstowe, went on strike. They stopped working for eight days.

Unione Unione has demanded a corresponding rise in wages as the cost of living rises, generating significant profits for the company’s shareholders, worth around £100m (€118m converted) in 2020, the secretary general of the Unione said. union, Sharon Graham. The port is “extremely profitable,” she emphasized.

Current strikes began in the UK on 18 August. For three days the strikes paralyzed rail traffic in particular. The Felixstowe strike is the latest in a series of strikes organized by unions in various economic sectors to secure massive wage increases in the face of peak inflation at an annualized rate of 10%.

port operator regrets

Felixstowe port officials said they were “disappointed” by Unite’s refusal to accept their proposal to call off the strike. The port operator said it offered what it considered a “fair” salary increase of an average of 8 percent and nearly 10 percent to the lowest-paid employees.

Port authorities lamented the strike’s impact on “supply chains in the UK”. Meanwhile, in an interview with British news agency PA, one of the port’s employees noted that the strikes are “an inconvenience, but not a disaster”. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions have become commonplace, he said.

First strike in 40 years

This is the first strike since 1989 in the east of England port, which handles around 4 million containers a year.