Hundreds of Felixstowe dockers have been offered cash to quit their jobs.

The Chinese owners of the Port Of Felixstowe have given a £10,000 incentive to workers to accept what they call a 'mutual termination, as a way of reducing the workforce.

Separately, there is anger among some workers with their union Unite after agreement was reached with Hutchison Ports, to scrap this year's EBITDA scheme, known colloquially as the Christmas Bonus.

Hutchison Ports, that own both Felixstowe and a swathe of the docks at Harwich, have been affected by the worldwide downturn in shipping, with Felixstowe port understood to be at least 20% less busy than at the same period last year.

The company is looking to offset a drop in profits and offered the severance package, along with other measures agreed by Unite.

One Felixstowe dock worker told Nub News: "It is not for everyone. Some people may jump at it, if they are coming up for retirement or have something else lined up, but for most of us it is just not worthwhile."

Tax is payable on the £10k, but redundancy packages are not tax deductible and depending on length of time served can be worth far more.

Meanwhile, Unite the union have written to members explaining why they have agreed with Hutchison Ports to suspend the bonus for one year and operate a shift swap system until October 31.

In the letter signed by Unite official Miles Hubbard and convenor Phil Pemberton the union explained the negotiation by the shop stewards' committee was made in order to preserve jobs during this economic uncertainty.

Part of the letter read: "Whilst we cannot guarantee that no redundancies will occur in the future, we have done everything in our power to prevent the loss of jobs.

"As a committee we know that it is our responsibility to negotiate the best outcome we can for the situation we find ourselves in.

These are very difficult circumstances, but we believe that we have acted in our members' best interests at a time when record job losses are taking place throughout the country and we ask for your understanding and support on this matter.

"We emphasise once again that this agreement is a temporary measure and does not set a precedent for any discussions in the future."

But some members were not happy at the way negotiations were handled and complained at the lack of communication with them during talks.

One dock worker told Nub News: "There is anger and it will be interesting to see what happens next in terms of Unite continuing to represent us."

Hutchison Ports were given the opportunity to comment but failed to respond.

Meanwhile, it was announced last month 650 workers at Danish ferry company DFDS, which uses Felixstowe and Harwich ports, would be losing their jobs.