Image source, PA Media
Image caption, Strike action at the port is expected to last until 29 August
A second day of strike action is under way at the UK’s busiest container port after workers walked out on Sunday in a pay dispute.
The union Unite said about 1,900 of its members were taking action, expected to last eight days, at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk.
A 7% pay offer from the port operator was described as “significantly below” the rate of inflation by Unite.
The decision to strike was described by the port as “disappointing”.
A picket line formed for a second time on Monday, with the union saying it would be staffed until 22: 00 BST each day of the strike.
The Port of Felixstowe handles about 48% of container trade, and employs about 2,550 people, Unite said.
Port spokesman Paul Davey said the pay offer of “7% plus £500 was “a very fair offer indeed.”
On Monday, he told Sky News that “a lot of [its] employees, Unite members, don’t want to be on strike” but crossing a picket line was “a very intimidating atmosphere”.
“We’ve spoken to a lot of them,” he said.
“There’s a lot of people at home who are quite angry with Unite, that they haven’t given them an opportunity to vote on a pay deal which we know many of them would accept. They’ve told us they would.”
Unite national officer, Robert Morton, acknowledged it had not put
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