Felixstowe engineers set to strike after Christmas

Engineering workers at the Port of Felixstowe will take strike action for two days – December 27-28 – in the dispute over the threat that some of them will be transferred to an outside company.

A total of more than 110 engineers, employed by the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company, who had voted by 98% for strike action over plans to transfer a number of them to Universal Tyres, will hold stoppages between 07.00 to 19.00 on December 27-28.

The union Unite has about 1,900 members at the UK’s busiest container port, including the 116 engineers – however, at the current time, it is only the tyre fitting operation that faces being transferred, but Unite fears that this could be the start of an unwelcome trend.