Port of Liverpool owner Peel Ports is urging Unite the union to put its ‘final’ 10.2% pay offer to striking port workers. Tony McDonough reports

Peel Ports is urging union leaders to put its “final 10.2% pay offer to striking workers at the Port of Liverpool in an effort to bring an end to the bitter dispute.

More than 600 dock workers, including dockside staff and senior control room operators, are currently in the middle of a week-long walkout that ends on October 17. It is the second strike after the first two-week walkout in September.

In August 88% of dockside workers took part in a strike ballot organised by Unite. It saw 99% vote in favour of strike action.

Peel Ports said it had offered workers a pay rise of 10.2%, above the CPI measure of inflation. However the union claims the offer is worth only around 8.3%. Unite adds that RPI inflation is running at 12.3% and therefore what is being offered is a real terms pay cut.

On Monday Peel Ports claimed Unite was demanding a 15.7% pay rise for its members, a figure disputed by the union. Now the company has written to Unite urging it to put the 10.2% offer to its members in a ballot.

However, Unite has responded to say the company is “fudging the numbers” and that the offer isn’t what it first appears.

Relations further deteriorated at the end of last week when Peel Ports announced that a “marked deterioration” in container volumes means it will have to cut jobs at the port. 132 people have received redundancy notices this week.

Speaking on Wednesday, Peel Ports chief operating officer David Huck, said: “We have made Unite the Union a very generous and realistic final offer of 10.2% but they have so far refused to allow staff to vote on it via an independent postal ballot. What possible reason would they have to reject that?

“A significant number of employees have raised concerns with us about the recent ballot process. We have therefore written to Unite leaders today asking them to give their members a proper vote, rather than simply relying on a show-of-hands in mass meetings.

“As employers, we have moved a long, long way in our discussions and have more than doubled our original pay increase, which is now 2% higher than any other port operator in the UK. And that’s against a backdrop of falling container volumes and a real tightening of the market.”

Unite national officer Robert Morton said: “Peel Ports is fudging the numbers. The 10.2% figure is based on the maximum someone could earn if they work overtime on top of their weekly contracted hours. If the company offered a clear 10.2% rise for all grades we would take it to ballot.

“The reality is that the company has offered our members around 8.3% – some pay grades would receive less than that and others slightly more. Our members have already overwhelmingly rejected this offer, which is nowhere near the RPI inflation rate of 12.3%, during a vote in a mass meeting.

“As with Peel’s redundancy threats, this is another transparent attempt to break the strike. It won’t work. Both our members and Unite are resolute. Peel Ports brings in huge profits and needs to put forward a pay rise that reflects soaring inflation.

“Unite would be happy to attend Acas (the conciliation service), but the company has told us it will not budge on the 8.3% offer. There is no point conducting talks until the company agrees to negotiate on its position, which means being truthful about what it is actually offering.”