British dock workers latest to join summer of strikes
Workers at Britain's biggest container port, Felixstowe, on Sunday began an eight-day strike over pay, in the latest industrial action as decades-high inflation intensifies the country's cost-of-living crisis.
Nearly 2,000 unionised employees at the port in eastern England, including crane drivers, machine operators and stevedores, started their walkout in the first strike at Felixstowe since 1989.
It comes amid stoppages over pay and working conditions across various UK industries.
Postal workers plan a four-day strike later this month, Telecoms giant BT will face its first stoppage in decades while Amazon warehouse staff, criminal lawyers and refuse collectors are among the others staging walkouts.
Pay hike demands are driven by inflation, which hit a 40-year-high above 10 percent last month, as soaring food and energy prices hurt millions.
The Bank of England has forecast it will top 13 percent this year, tipping the British economy into a deep and long recession.
The global impact of the war in Ukraine on energy and food prices, and, to a lesser extent, post-Brexit trade frictions are blamed for the UK's spiralling cost of living.
The Unite union representing the striking Felixstowe staff said the stoppage will have a big impact at the port, which handles around four million containers a year from 2,000 ships.
The union wants pay rises for its members at or near inflation, arguing the docks are "enormously profitable".
