A leader dock workers union has branded the £100,000 a year appointment of controversial former transport minister Chris Grayling as 'galling' after Felixstowe dockers were told they would not get their annual bonus, and some were asked to quit their jobs with a £10,000 pay-off

Unite, the union, which represents many workers at the Port of Felixstowe, has made the scathing attack after Grayling was given the position by Hutchison Ports as a part-time adviser.

Unite regional officer Miles Hubbard described Grayling's appointment as particularly galling given recent tensions over the suspension of Christmas bonuses and changes to working routines to help weather the storm of the Coronavirus outbreak.

He said: "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."

Hubbard also drew attention to the ex-transport secretary's record in government, including the infamous award in December 2018 of a £13.8m shipping contract to Seaborne Freight, a firm with no vessels, and questioned Hutchison Ports' prioritisation of funds in light of the cancellation of dockers' bonuses.

"Hutchison 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'."

A Hutchison Ports spokesman told Nub News: "We can confirm that Chris Grayling has been appointed as a Strategic Adviser to Hutchison Ports Europe following the completion of the Acoba process."

Acoba refers to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, the parliamentary watchdog responsible for MPs' external business interests.

Despite Grayling having had access to information that could be perceived to benefit Hutchison in his role as Secretary of State for Transport, the Committee reasoned that much of this information would have related to the transport secretary generally, as opposed to specific information on the maritime sector and ports specifically.

News of the appointment came out when the register of MP's financial interests maintained by Parliament, revealed Mr Grayling is set to earn £100,000 over the next year for seven hours' work per week as an adviser to Hutchison Ports, the global port operator which operates both the Port of Felixstowe and much of Harwich docks.

The response on social media to the appointment was equally scathing with members of the public from Felixstowe, Harwich and Shotley with examples including:

That's not good news! £1,923 a day! £274 per hour to advise! How did the railway improve with his advise!

Martin Biddle

Couldn't make it up.

Neil O'Hare

Watch out Felixstowe- he'll soon get rid of all your trade and ships through incompetence...

Mary V Saunderson