P&O Ferries Fires All 800 British Crew Members

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, in response to P&O Ferries firing all British crew members, organises protests in the UK cities Dover, Liverpool, and Kingston upon Hull.

Thursday, 17 March 2022 saw P&O Ferries, owned by DP World, fire all 800 British crew members. The company's intent, an obvious cost cutting exercise, is to replace the British crew members with significantly cheaper agency workers. The backlash has been huge.

The argument DP World couldn't afford to pay British crew members what they're worth should fall on deaf ears. DP World, headquartered out of Dubai, paid shareholders in 2020 a dividend of more than £270m. The company, during the same year, claimed government grants amounting to a staggering £15m.

The impacted P&O Ferries employees, during a video conference call, discovered Thursday was their "final day of employment". The replacement workers were bussed to ferries in advance of the terminations. Keir Starmer , Leader of the Labour Party, took to Twitter on Friday, 18 March 2022:

"I’ve spoken with staff sacked by P&O Ferries. I’m furious for them and stand with them," Starmer tweeted. "The Tories have created an environment where a bad employer thinks they have license to tear up staff contracts. Labour will introduce a new deal for working people to make work more secure."

Other politicians, further to Starmer, have used their Twitter accounts to express their thoughts on the P&O Ferries firing:

Many crew members, something which took P&O Ferries off-guard, refused to leave their ships. Crew members aboard a P&O vessel that had docked at Northern Ireland's Larne Harbour, attempting to prevent private security officers from boarding, raised the gangway. The British crew, seeing no other option, eventually left the ship.

It didn't take long for Robert Courts, the parliamentary under-secretary for transport, to express his thoughts.

"Reports of workers being given zero notice and escorted off their ships...," Courts said, "shows the insensitive way in which P&O have approached this issue. I'm extremely concerned and frankly angry at the way workers have been treated by P&O."

P&O Ferries, via the company's Twitter account, were "advising travellers of alternative arrangements." The company fails to recognise, if management hadn't moved forwards with firing 800 people, "alternative arrangements" wouldn't have been needed.

It's a little late for regrets. P&O Ferries, a leading UK ferry company, typically sees more than ten million passengers board and disembark its vessels each year. Approximately 15 percent of all cargo entering and exiting the British Isles is carried by P&O Ferries.

"You forgot to say that this is because you've sacked ALL crew, with no notice, and plan to use cheap agency staff instead. Monstrous behaviour. You were given £33m by UK govt during Covid, and paid dividends worth £230m to shareholders," tweeted Tim Weisselberg.

Curiously, according to the published Twitter bio, P&O Ferries considers itself "the UK's most popular ferry company." The brand's reputation, impacted by these shocking and appalling actions, will never recover. The response from the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, something P&O Ferries didn't see coming, is likely to cause the company significant issues. Are P&O Ferries actions legal?

"Simply dismissing 800 employees without going through the legal process, is unlawful," employment lawyer Holly Cudbill said.

Companies seeking to make at least 20 employees redundant within a 90-day period, under UK law, are required to consult staff. Further, something else that clearly didn't happen, a conversation with trade union representatives must happen.

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.

Several people have pointed to Brexit as being what caused P&O Ferries to fire its 800 British crew members. Obviously, before Brexit, international borders weren't a major issue. The sh*t has seriously hit the fan.