Strike over pay at UK container port

The first day of a planned strike at Britain's biggest container port started Sunday. Almost 2,000 workers at the Port of Felixstowe walked off the jobs over pay, raising fears of severe supply chain problems.

The port handles around 4 million containers a year from 2,000 ships – almost half of the country’s incoming shipping freight.The Port of Felixstowe said in a statement that it regretted the impact the strikes would have on U.K supply chains. It said workers were offered a pay raise “worth over 8% on average in the current year.”Britons are facing the worst cost of living crisis in decades as wages fail to keep pace with inflation and grocery costs and utility bills increase. The conditions have sparked summer strikes by train and subway workers following the breakdown of wage talks in June. Postal workers, lawyers, British Telecom staff and rubbish collectors have all announced walkouts for later this month.