Union anger over Yarmouth dock losses

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Union officials expressed their anger last night that the 11 remaining dock workers at the company behind Yarmouth's new outer harbour are to be made redundant.
Unite says it has been told that EastPort UK will dismiss the stevedores, some of who have worked in the ports for more than 20 years, in the next few weeks and bring in casual workers instead.
It follows five dockers being made redundant a few weeks ago.
Yesterday's news comes in the wake of the arrival of two giant cranes and the 150m cargo vessel Trimnes to help put the finishing touches to the £50m outer harbour and container terminal. The major project is a joint venture between the Port of Singapore Authority and EastPort UK, which took over running Yarmouth's port in 2007.
Victor Brazkiewicz, regional industrial organiser for Unite, said: “The new port management have decimated and demoralised the port workforce since they took control.
“To add insult to injury, it is now looking to replace our members with casual labour. Morale, trust and confidence in the port management is at an all-time low, causing a number of individuals to resign in addition to the redundancies.
In addition, the Port of Singapore Authority has been seeking labour through a recruitment agency, by-passing the current workforce.”
Mike Gibbons, the dockers' executive member for Unite, added: “The union will use all means possible, including our international contacts, to prevent these redundancies and the casualisation of the workforce.”
Last week the EDP reported that 30 port staff would move from their present riverside headquarters to offices in the former Omni-Pac egg carton factory on South Denes in the late summer to coincide with the first arrival of the first container vessels at the harbour.