Hundreds of workers at the Port of Liverpool to walk out for a third time as both sides in a bitter pay dispute appear no closer to a resolution. Tony McDonough reports

Almost 600 workers at the Port of Liverpool will stage a third walkout – this time for two days – as their bitter pay dispute with Peel Ports drags on.

On Friday Unite the union said staff at the Seaforth Port will walk out on October 24 and will not return to work until November 7. They first walked out for two weeks on September 19 and this was followed by a second strike which ends on October 17.

Earlier this week port owner Peel Ports urged the unions to put what it claims is a 10.2% pay offer to its members. However, Unite claims the real figure is 8.3% – well below the RPI inflation rate of 12.3%.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Peel Holdings is hugely profitable and can absolutely afford to pay our members a proper wage increase. It did so at Cammell Laird, so why not at Liverpool docks?

“Instead of negotiations to resolve this dispute, the company has chosen to threaten jobs and repeatedly mislead about the deal it has tabled. Our members are standing firm, and have their union’s complete support. The company must put forward a pay rise they can accept or this strike continues.”

Unite adds the dispute is also over a failure to honour the dock workers’ 2021 pay agreement. This includes the company not undertaking a promised pay review, which last happened in 1995, and failing to deliver on an agreement to improve shift rotas.

Unite national coordinating officer for freeports, Steven Gerrard, added: “If Peel had genuinely offered 10.2% to all grades, we would ballot our members. But they haven’t, nor have they addressed their failure to implement 2021’s pay agreement.”

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%. 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 asking them to give their members a proper vote, rather than simply relying on a show-of-hands in mass meetings.”