STRIKE action planned for the port of Liverpool next week has been called off after union representatives agreed to put a new proposal from employers to their members.

Peel Ports, which operates the port’s container terminals alongside Terminal Investment Ltd, said an agreed proposal had been reached with Unite the Union that would be fully recommended to its members.

A vote will be held later this week on whether to formally accept the offer.

“On this basis, Peel Ports’ chief operating officer David Huck and Unite the Unions’ national officer for transport Bobby Morton confirmed that the strike planned for the November 14 will be postponed,” Peel Ports said in a statement.

No details of the proposed agreement have been made public by either side of the dispute.

Liverpool dockworkers voted in August for strike action after rejecting a 7% pay offer from Peel Ports. More than 500 staff walked out for two weeks on September 19, and for another week on October 11.

The dispute became heated when the Unite, representing dockworkers, claimed that Peel Ports was threatening redundancies in an effort to break the strike, and demanded a 15.7% pay increase.

A third two-week strike on October 24 came after the union rejected an improved 11% pay offer from Peel Ports, with Unite saying an agreement in principle with management had been quashed by the board of Peel Ports.

Any resolution to the dispute will come as a relief to local shippers and to carriers that utilise the port.

Atlantic Container Lines, which uses Liverpool for its sole UK call, warned that rolling strikes had meant it could not call in the UK due to the risk of its ships and cargo being delayed by the action.