Dock workers on picket lines in Felixstowe (Picture: Guy Smallman)
Strikes by dockers in Liverpool and in Felixstowe, Suffolk, showed the power to bring the bosses’ trade to a halt starting from Tuesday of this week. Workers at both docks— who are members of the Unite union—are striking over pay with mass picket lines. They know they can win.
Big mobilisations have meant that the strikers in Liverpool began their second strike week more confident than ever, with marches and chants of “the dockers united will never be defeated”. Both groups of workers are fighting after their bosses offered them pay increases of 7 percent.
With inflation higher than 12 percent, that’s a 5 percent real terms pay cut. In Liverpool, they’ve operated constant picket lines since they began on Tuesday of last week—with mass turnouts every day.
Dozens of people—sometimes hundreds—at a time line the streets at the port’s main gate, with fires and BBQs going and music blasting. Yet more stand on a nearby roundabout calling up support from passing traffic—and they all gather every so often to march to the gate and back, chanting “Fuck the Tories.”
“Our resolve is still as strong as when we started—we’re here for the course and it will take more than bad weather to dampen our spirits,” striking Unite rep Paul Turkington told Socialist Worker. “We’ve got a lot of angry lads, and that’s why we’re out here 24 hours a day. We’ll do everything in our power to get this done.”
“It’s been like this all week, every day, 24/7,” John another striker, said. “It’s brought us all together. A lot of us are usually on different shifts, so to have us all on the picket line here has been good.” He added, “A lot of local support has come down as well.
“Every day someone has come down to support us. Solidarity is the key word.” Paul said nearby residents have visited the picket line with food and chocolates. And there are constant blasts on horns from freight drivers.
“On the picket line we’ve been flagging down wagons and lads going in to make them aware of the situation,” he said. “These truck drivers are in and out all the time—they know us.”
Climate activists also visited the picket lines on Friday of last week with a banner reading “Climate activists support the strikers.” They marched along the picket line chanting “climate justice—justice for the dockers.”
The dockers gave them a fantastic reception and a Unite rep thanked them and asked them to come again. Workers in Felixstowe joined the action on Tuesday of this week—defying accusations of intimidation and implicit threats from top bosses.
Felixstowe Port CEO Clemence Cheng told the East Anglian Daily Times that workers “are afraid of intimidation if they turn up on strike days.” He also wrote to workers earlier in September warning them, “think carefully what you hope to achieve by going on strike.
“Think of your future, the future of the port and the local community when making your decision.” But the workers also know they have the power to win—especially while they are out together.
Liverpool strikers were set to end their action on Monday next week. The strike at Felixstowe carries on until Wednesday next week. “When Felixstowe go out it’ll be a landmark event,” said Paul. “The Port of Liverpool and Felixstowe accounts for about 65 percent of daily traffic going through the UK—it will have a massive effect.
“No one notices when the bosses disappear, but they’ll notice very fast when the workers do.”
Thanks to Mark O’Brien for help with this report. Send a message of support to Liverpool dockers at bit.ly/LiverpoolSolidarity
A staffing crisis in the NHS
Health workers set to strike across four Manchester hospitals
Bus workers rejected an offer and came back out
