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Felixstowe: Strike begins at UK's biggest container port
![Felixstowe: Strike begins at UK's biggest container port]()
Dock workers at the UK's largest container port have gone on strike for the first time in 30 years. Felixstowe: Strike begins at UK's biggest container port
Dock workers at the UK's largest container port have gone on strike for the first time in 30 years.
About 1,900 members of the Unite union at Felixstowe in Suffolk are walking out for eight days in a dispute over pay.
Unite said members rejected a 7% pay offer from the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company, which it said was below the rate of inflation.
A port spokesman said the strike was "disappointing".
A picket line formed early on Sunday as the strike began, and the union said it would be manned until 22:00 on each day of the walkout.
"Strike action will cause huge disruption and will generate massive shockwaves throughout the UK's supply chain, but this dispute is entirely of the company's own making," said Bobby Morton, the Unite union's national officer for docks.
"It [the company] has had every opportunity make our members a fair offer but has chosen not to do so."
On Friday, Felixstowe's operator Hutchison Ports said it believed its offer of a 7% pay rise and a lump sum of 500 pounds ($604) was fair. It said the port's workers union, which represents about 500 staff in supervisory, engineering and clerical roles, had accepted the deal.
