Grayling earns £100k a year for seven hours' work a week
Questions over Chris Grayling's lucrative advisory contract have been raised as workers at the port of Felixstowe walk out over a pay dispute.
The former transport minister was handed a deal worth £100,000 a year in 2020 for seven hours' work a week.
At the time, Unite the union described the bumper pay packet as an "insult" to staff shouldering pay reductions due to the coronavirus downturn, with detrimental shift changes brought in for part-time staff as the port's owner tried to weather the impact of the pandemic.
The union, which has more than 2,000 members at the port, said Hutchinson Ports "clearly has money to burn" if it can afford to spend £100,000 on an advisor who once awarded a £13.8 million cross-channel ferry contract to a company with no ferries.
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Regional officer Miles Hubbard said: “Mr Grayling’s appointment by Hutchinson Ports is a slap in the face to its Felixstowe workforce. While still serving as an MP, Mr Grayling will pocket nearly £2,000 a week for just seven hours work.
“For Felixstowe port’s hourly paid staff, who have lost their annual Christmas bonus and undergone detrimental shift changes to help the company get through the pandemic, Mr Grayling’s cushy number at the port is an insult.
“Hutchinson Ports clearly has money to burn if it can afford to spend £100,000 on a part time advisor who once gave a multimillion-pound shipping contract to a company with no ships and who was dubbed ‘the worst transport secretary of all time’.”
This week port workers walked out over pay in the first strike to hit the port since 1989.
Workers including crane drivers, machine operators and stevedores are taking action after voting by more than 9-1 in favour of strikes.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Felixstowe docks is enormously profitable. The latest figures show that in 2020 it made £61 million in profits.
“Its parent company, CK Hutchison Holding Ltd, is so wealthy that, in the same year, it handed out £99 million to its shareholders.
“So they can give Felixstowe workers a decent pay raise. It’s clear both companies have prioritised delivering multimillion-pound profits and dividends rather than paying their workers a decent wage.
“Unite is entirely focused on enhancing its members’ jobs, pay and conditions and it will be giving the workers at Felixstowe its complete support until this dispute is resolved and a decent pay increase is secured.”
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