P&O Ferries sacks 800 workers but crew refuse to leave ships

[Chippy_Tea]

What a way to treat staff.


P&O Ferries has sparked outrage after sacking 800 staff with plans to replace them with cheaper agency workers.
Staff were told in a video call that today was their "final day of employment", but some are refusing to leave their ships in protest and face being forcibly removed.
P&O said it was a "tough" decision but it would "not be a viable business" without the changes.
But the government called the workers' treatment "wholly unacceptable".
And the RMT union is threatening legal action against P&O, calling it one of the "most shameful acts in the history of British industrial relations".
P&O said its services would not operate for the "next few days", with passengers told to use other companies.
Crew on one ship docked at Larne Harbour in Northern Ireland had lifted the gangway after private security officers arrived to remove them.
The crew has now left the ship and Gary Jackson, a full time officer and RMT union member onboard the Pride of Hull, said they were "absolutely devastated"
"At 11am ratings and officers were informed there was going to be a pre-recorded Zoom meeting. After that two to three-minute call all the crew were made redundant," he said,
"I've seen grown men crying on there because they don't know where they're going to go from today."


Full article - P&O Ferries sacks 800 workers but crew refuse to leave ships

 

[The Baron]

I do not think they will get away with this the key in the statement was
But the government called the workers' treatment "wholly unacceptable".
Even our government must act on this statement

 

[Cheshire Cat]

The Tories will do nothing.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

It looks like they have broken several laws and the solicitor on 5 Live thinks they have done it on purpose because the cost to pay them off if the courts agree will be less than what the will save by replacing them with cheap foreign labour.

 

[MrRook]

Passengers using other companies may decide to stay with them when P&O starts operating again.
I wouldn't use them.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said he is "reviewing P&O Ferries' contracts across government" in response to the way it sacked 800 staff on Thursday.
Mr Shapps has written to the firm "raising concerns" and questioning the legality of the redundancies.
He was "deeply concerned" at how the firm told the government of the move.
Many staff were told their jobs had been terminated immediately via a pre-recorded video message.
Mr Shapps urged the company to pause the redundancies announced.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has also written to the ferry operator's chairman demanding answers to P&O Ferries' handling of the redundancies.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter
Mr Kwarteng's letter to chairman Robert Woods claims the company did not follow the correct process in consulting with unions and staff representatives or in notifying him through the Insolvency Service and the Redundancy Payment Service.
The letter says failure to notify is "a criminal offence and can lead to an unlimited fine".
The Business Secretary also raises the company's previous application for government support when Covid lockdowns disrupted travel.
"It is particularly depressing that this should happen given the millions of pounds of British taxpayer support P&O companies received from the furlough scheme," he wrote.
P&O Ferries is owned by DP World which owns ports at London and Southampton.
DP World recently announced £8bn in revenues last year. During the Covid pandemic the company claimed more than £15m in grants and furlough assistance.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60800520

 

[Chippy_Tea]

 

[Chippy_Tea]

 

[Chippy_Tea]

 

[hedgerowpete]

I love the way some people here have gone for the same old BS answers their grandparents did 50 years ago as an excuse. SYme excuses i heard when the miners committed suicide with strikes at work.
you get rid of 800 staff for one simple reason they are hugely expensive and unwieldly. Thanks to mondern rules and regulation enforced by the unions a employed member of staff is massively expensive to have. Taxes and especially pensions cripple the costs. I see no one mentioned pensions in the excuses and rantings above, strange that?

Bin the staff hard a quick. cuts down the bad press and loss of earnings, less than a week and its all over or have a summer of strike actions.
Employing agency staff covers that need for staff but at roughly 40% less costs than employed.
Bounus with agency staff, zero hours contracts, dont want to run a ferry to save costs, dont have to pay for the staff.
If you were to try to consider the costs of redundancy packages and i am sure they have done that, its far cheaper to go to court and pay out on the staff.
Theres no way any of this was even dreamed of without it going past a lot of lawyers and baristers first and bean counters and being signed off as the best way forward.

Company wise your about to start the holiday silly season, you have lost a few days travel bookings but massivly slashed your over heads, drop a few ferry crossings too and in your in a far better shape. Without any mucking about with union talks strikes going into the holiday season and so forth, a far better and stronger posistion.

The last thing you want is the same pooh the underground train drivers have done and screwed everyone going all the time and crippled a firm.

Yes there will be a court case and yes you will have to pay, but not untill after the holiday season has finished and you have money in the bank.
Best part you can always go bump just before the court case. Dump all the staff on their **** and all the bills. Clear the debts and restart on monday morning as P&O Ferries MK2. After all what they are doing is trying to keep the firm afloat and stop a £100M loss, if this dramatic action does not do it your going bump anyway so why bother spending out on staff redundancy when you can avoid paying it at all.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Employing agency staff covers that need for staff but at roughly 40% less costs than employed.

You do know agency staff cost more than regular staff don't you, we employ agency staff to cover staff shortages and i wish i was on their wages.

They are not employing agency staff they are employing cheaper foresight labour.

I think its a disgrace how they made these people redundant via a video call they have broken several laws and i hope the 800 staff take them to the cleaners.

 

[The Baron]

I have heard but only heresay that P&O are claiming the employment of the staff is covered under Maritime law and not UK Employment law but as I have said could be true could be B0!!ock5

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Were the sackings unlawful?
According to employment lawyer Holly Cudbill, if the P&O employees' contracts are governed by UK law, then the answer is almost certainly yes.
"Simply dismissing 800 employees without going through the legal process, is unlawful," she says.
Beth Hale, partner at employment law firm CM Murray, says P&O should have consulted with unions and staff about potential dismissals and notified the government that hundreds of jobs were at risk.
"It's potentially an enormous breach, but they purport to be paying their way out of it."
Rosemary Connolly, an employment solicitor, says that while she couldn't say if the P&O broke the law, she did believe employees could take action against the company.
"It's certainly not in conformity with any of the established provisions of employment law," she adds.
What rights do workers have?
Under UK law, employers planning to make 20 or more staff redundant within any 90-day period, must first consult staff and speak to trade union representatives.
If this doesn't happen, employees are entitled to take their employer to a tribunal.
Ms Connolly says it appears P&O set aside the consultation phase and moved to terminate workers, as the process of consultation "ordinarily takes quite a lot of time".
"If consultation is going to be meaningful it needs to be a proper exchange," she says.
She believes that P&O staff who have been sacked, might be able to argue that their dismissal was unfair and make a claim.

• Government guidance: Redundancy and benefits
• What are my rights if I am made redundant?

Kate Palmer, HR advice director at Peninsula, agrees.
"There has been no meaningful consultation at all. It should be two-way process where the employees have the opportunity to put forward alternatives to that enforced termination and none of that has happened. So is it a fair process? No, based on that alone."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60792039

 

[hedgerowpete]

You do know agency staff cost more than regular staff don't you, we employ agency staff to cover staff shortages and i wish i was on their wages.

They are not employing agency staff they are employing cheaper foresight labour.

I think its a disgrace how they made these people redundant via a video call they have broken several laws and i hope the 800 staff take them to the cleaners.

Agency staff are on a higher hourly rate at the agency. But come with zero pension costs and no sickness, maternity or benifits which now are considerable. You have non of the nonsence of union strikes and walk outs which will also save you a fortune over the summer because if you had employed staff they would be all doing that over the summer costing you lose of earnings.You can also dump them as and when you like for when you want to hold a ferry over and sign the lot up to zero hours contracts and they are massively cheaper than employed staff. They are only expensive if you use them like employees and not agency staff. We do a lot of agency work and honestly its at least a 40% cost saving minmiun over employed staff and zero costs when you sack them as well. no redundancy costs.

 

[stripeyjoe]

you get rid of 800 staff for one simple reason they are hugely expensive and unwieldly. Thanks to mondern rules and regulation enforced by the unions a employed member of staff is massively expensive to have.

Maybe, if you can’t afford to pay people a decent wage, then your business model is incorrect. Why should workers suffer because you can’t balance the books?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

.You can also dump them as and when you like for when you want to hold a ferry over and sign the lot up to zero hours contracts and they are massively cheaper than employed staff. They are only expensive if you use them like employees and not agency staff.

"Dump staff" what a horrible attitude you have to your workforce I am glad I am not employed by you and having read the posts you have made in this thread I feel heartily sorry for those you do employ.

 

[The Baron]

i'm with Stripey on this it is usually a case of bad management that has created this situation. They hold the purse string and have not moved with the times like other companies have.
Bad managers just redundo their staff (mistakes)

 

[the_quick]

I guess it is all true about agency workers, very ugly truth. But look at other perspective - if you have workers coming and going, never really few secure etc. What kind of quality workers you going to get. If you have a good contract, a permanent contract you feel much safer = more likely you will feel better about your position, not worry constantly about the long term. I don't believe relation employer/employee is just about how much money you get paid per hour.

Anyway, it is a disgrace, no one should be sacked on a spot through a Zoom call.
Not sure it is true, but I read somewhere that they have been employed in Jersey - any other employment laws there?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I have been very vocal as I was made redundant from the shipyard in Barrow many years ago when the cold war ended so I know how the P&O employees feel, the shipyard had always been a job for life but they made 10,000 of us redundant over a couple of years, there was no call for the skills we had and hardly any vacancies for jobs, there was no minimum wage back then so all the jobs that were available paid half what we earned in the shipyard so times were very hard for a long time, what type of boss thinks using the term "Dump staff" is acceptable when you are talking about employees livelihoods.

 

[hedgerowpete]

i do love how quickly you all grab at any stick to beat any person that does not follow the company forum line here. Its very funny how you all miss a massive issue and big situation and attack someone trying to be a devils advocate and explain what the pressure and situation these workers are in and what powers and rules and laws are being used to disguise whats going on. I am trying to explain how the P&O management got to where they decided to DUMP 800 STAFF IN A COLD AND DUMPY WAY. I am not suporting them but explaining to people here what made them do what they did. It show imense short sightedness that you all do not want to see or even try to someone explaining whats happening in layman terms and words. But instead fixate on a single four letter word used because of the person trying to open eyes has cause a troll kick back

AGAIN!!

You all rant and rave about keeping the forum family friendlyand not targeting the person and to keep it clean.

Untill such time it suits you to not do that and then target some one. then its claws out and hack away. shame on you all.