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Liverpool dock workers will stage two more weeks of strikes in a long-running row over pay and jobs.
The Unite union has said almost 600 port workers will walk out again from October 24 to November 7, following industrial action over recent weeks.
Port owner Peel Holdings says it has offered a pay rise worth more than 10% to workers, but Unite claims the rise was only around 8.2% and actually amounted to a real-terms cut in pay due to inflation.
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 Camel 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.”
The union said it was also preparing to ballot the port’s dock masters, shift managers and vessel traffic services officers over possible strike action, warning the combined impact would leave the entire port “inoperable”.
Current industrial action, which began on 11 October, is due to come to an end on 17 October.
The strikes at the docks began on 19 September, with workers forming a picket line after Peel Holdings announced its plans to cut 132 jobs following a decline of cargo at the port.
According to Peel Ports the port of Liverpool handles more than 70 million tonnes of cargo from across the globe.
Workers at the country’s largest port, Felixstowe, Suffolk, also began strike action earlier this week.
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