Members of the Unite union who work at the Port of Grangemouth are set to go on strike for two weeks from midnight on Monday to protest against new shift rotas they claim amount to  “a de facto pay cut.”

Grangemouth is Scotland’s largest container port, handling about 30% of Scotland’s gross domestic product.

The union has maintained it is prepared to negotiate with port owner Forth Ports.

A Port of Grangemouth spokesman has been quoted as saying the strike action proposed by Unite is “unjustified.”

Port of Grangemouth maintains the new shift patterns being proposed are a response to the changing needs of customers whose vessels need to use the port seven days a week.

Port of Grangemouth intends to close the port’s quayside container operations from midnight on Monday but other operations at the port will stay open.

“We sincerely hope that our staff, and their union, will cancel this strike and work with us to implement the changes necessary to enable us to meet the changing demands of our customers,” the port operator told the BBC.