Peel Ports has warned the on-going strike action at the Port of Liverpool could "act as a deterrent to investors looking to create jobs in the city region".
The company made the comments after members of Unite walked out from 6am on Monday, September 19, in a dispute over pay. The industrial action is due to continue to 6am on Monday, October 3.
More than 500 port operatives from Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) voted in August in favour of a strike.
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The union said an 7% offer from MDHC, which is owned by Peel Ports, represented a real terms pay cut.
It also said that more strikes are set to be scheduled if MDHC fails to put forward an acceptable offer to the workers.
However Peel Ports said it offered a package which equates to a c.10% pay rise that included an 8.3% pay package and a £750 one off payment that was rejected by the union.
Peel Ports chief operating officer David Huck said: "Our concern is on the impact a sustained period of industrial action will have on many of the gains the city region’s economy has made over the last two decades.
"The investments Peel Ports have made over the years have restored Liverpool’s position as a global gateway to the North of England and the UK.
"When we invested in Liverpool2, the port’s deep-sea container terminal, we recognised that for the hundreds of jobs we create, thousands more are created in the wider logistics and maritime sectors across the city region.
"We can also see that many other businesses derive value from the efficiency of using a strong and reliable port like Liverpool.
"That’s why this dispute is damaging not only for us, but it is bad for business, jobs and the city’s economy."
He added: "We’ve worked long and constructively with the unions, investing in training, transforming our safety culture and ensuring our pay awards keep ahead of inflation – even during the pandemic. This is also true for this year’s pay award and will be the same for the next one in the spring."
Peel Ports said a "prolonged dispute and a union seeking a pay package award of circa 20%, whilst rejecting an offer above inflation, will act as a deterrent to investors looking to create jobs in the city region and from other cargo owners entrusting their supply chains to the area".
In a statement issued earlier this month, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "MDHC is controlled by a tax-exiled billionaire and can well afford to pay these workers a proper pay rise.
"Workers across the country are sick to death of being told to take a hit on their wages and living standards while employer after employer is guilty of rampant profiteering. MDHC needs to think again, table a reasonable offer and fulfil its previous pay promises."
Unite lead officer for freeports Steven Gerrard added: "MDHC has refused to honour the previous pay pledges it made to our members and is refusing to put forward an acceptable pay rise now. It has no one else to blame for the disruption that will be caused.
"MDHC needs to deliver on the agreements it made in 2021 as well as tabling an offer our members can accept for 2022."
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