Striking dockers do CONGA and sing as they begin eight-day walkout that may block Christmas presents
STRIKING dockers dance a conga and sing as they begin an eight-day walkout affecting trade worth £700million.
Staff shut the UK’s biggest port at Felixstowe, Suffolk, in the latest union industrial action to cripple Britain like in 1979’s Winter of Discontent.
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It came despite warnings that their actions would wreak chaos for Christmas plans.
Rebel dockers at Felixstowe, the UK’s biggest container port, were seen waving union flags and dancing to House of Pain hit “Jump Around.”
Despite worries their disruption could lead to empty shelves in stores and delayed presents in the festive season, “frying pickets” were busy munching on free burgers and hotdogs from a barbecue.
Claire Bailey, founder of The Retail Champion, told The Sun: “It’s going to have a huge ripple effect, it could very easily ruin Christmas. There will be crackers, advent calendars, toys, jumpers, winter clothing, all sorts of stock on those containers that will now be months and months late.
“After what everybody has gone through it’s heart-breaking that people think this is the only way they can get heard.
“But to try and make a scene by singing and dancing, well that makes me even angrier. There has to be other ways to deal with this”
Defending the party atmosphere, shop steward Gary Joy, 50, told The Sun: “The conga was just one of those spur of the moment things to support each other and show we’ve got each other’s backs. It was only around 15 people having a laugh.”
Asked if the dance might undermine their message, the dad of two from Ipswich added: “I would hope not and that people see it for what it is. It was just a bit of fun.
“I’ve been here since 5.45am and I’ll be here until 9pm tonight. We can’t sit here and be serious the whole time.
“We’ve had a barbecue going and a bit of a song and dance to keep people entertained. But it’s all to get our message across.”
The dockers are the latest workforce to vote for industrial action after strike chaos has already disrupted trains, tubes, airlines, postal services — and now the criminal justice system after barristers voted to go on indefinite strike over pay.
The scale of walkouts, last seen during the “winter of discontent” in 1979 comes as economists predict that inflation will hit 18.6 per cent — last seen 43 years ago.
Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company has offered a rise of seven per cent plus £500 but so far the workers have rejected it and said any bump should be in line with the inflation, which was at 10.1 per cent last month.
The Unite union says the firm was “massively profitable” and “fully able to pay the workforce a fair day’s pay”.
A transport operator at a nearby freight service, which already has nearly a third of its lorries sitting idle with no work, slammed strikers for “holding the country to ransom”. She said: “We’re already really feeling the impact while they’re dancing around and singing karaoke with a BBQ.
“How I felt after seeing them do the conga is unprintable. Absolutely diabolically annoyed doesn’t cut it.
“It really does grate on me that we’re now losing money and going to have to lay people off while they’re getting paid to have a party.
The conga was just one of those spur of the moment things to support each other and show we’ve got each other’s backs. It was only around 15 people having a laugh.
Shop steward Gary Joy
“We know they get well paid and they’ve been offered a huge increase. It’s just selfish. We all want pay rises but have to accept to live within our means. This action has a huge knock-on effect on so many other people and smaller businesses who are really going to struggle.”
Dad-of-two Gary admitted: “If we can’t reach an agreement then this could well impact Christmas. How long this goes on for is in the company’s hands.
“But that’s not our fault. We’ve been trying for nine months to sort this pay negotiation so if they made a sensible offer in February we would still be at work now.
“I would ask people not to put pressure on the workers. We’re just after a reasonable pay settlement which the company can afford.” Almost 350 staff downed tools to join the picket line by 6am. Tug driver Steve Brown, 58, walked out of the port for the first time in 38 years.
He said: “Nearly 50 per cent of container traffic comes through here. It’s Britain’s busiest port. So eight days of action will of course impact Christmas. Dealing with that backlog isn’t going to happen overnight and there’s going to be real supply chain issues. People might not get their presents.
“But it needs to impact people so they can understand why we’re doing it. The sooner we are listened to, the quicker we will get back to work and minimise the impact.”
Some of the biggest retailers and companies in Britain all rely on Felixstowe to transport goods in and out of the country with Asda, John Lewis, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Jaguar Land Rover using the port to import goods.
Josh Brazil, of global supply chain insights at project44, said: “Felixstowe is a global port – the longer the strike lasts, the larger the ripple effect on container flows and carrier performance around the world.”
Douglas Grant, chief executive of Manx financial group, said it would add to pressures faced by small and medium businesses after an endless string of woes.
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