P&O Ferries backlash grows after firing 800 workers

A backlash against P&O Ferries is mounting after the company laid off 800 employees without notice.

The UK government said it would review its contracts with P&O after laying off its staff to replace them with cheaper agency workers.

A chorus of cross-party MPs described P&O’s actions as “insane”, “shameful” and “sneaky”.

Labor compared the treatment of P&O’s workers to “thug action”, while the unions threatened legal action.

P&O Ferries sparked outrage on Thursday when it fired almost a quarter of its workforce via video message, telling workers it was their “last day at work”.

The RMT union called it one of the “most shameful acts in the history of British industrial relations”. Protests are planned in the ports of Dover, Liverpool and Hull on Friday.

P&O employee Andrew Smith said he was “completely dismayed” after 22 years with the company.

“It’s our life,” he said. “It’s how our families grew up knowing we were doing this, and it was turned on its head within hours.”

Sea Secretary Robert Courts said he was “frankly angry at the way workers were treated”, which he described as “completely unacceptable” to the House of Commons.

“Reports of workers being escorted off their ships without notice and with immediate effect while being told cheaper alternatives would take their place demonstrate the insensitive nature with which P&O has approached this issue,” he said.

He added that he didn’t expect critical goods and services to be affected by the sudden drop in capacity, but travelers “should expect some disruption in the coming days”.

Mr Courts said the company had told him it was suspending services on the Dover to Calais, Larne to Cairnryan, Dublin to Liverpool and Hull to Rotterdam routes for “a week to 10 days while they locate new crews”.

Louise Haigh, Labor Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “Images are circulating of security forces trained in handcuffs, some with balaclavas, marching British crews off their ships.

“It’s beneath all contempt. The action of thugs.”

Conservative MP Huw Merriman, chairman of the Transport Select Committee, said P&O made a “horrifying mistake”. “Unless they immediately turn around and rehire the staff and follow the right process, it’s economically hard for them to find a way back,” he said.

He called on the government to “do everything in its power and influence, including introducing emergency legislation if necessary, to ensure this appalling employment transaction cannot go through.”

Mr Courts said it was “a rapidly changing situation” but he would review “what arrangements are in place as we move forward”.

Former Transport Secretary Sir John Hayes criticized P&O Ferries’ “capricious, careless, callous” decision and suggested the government “reclaim all monies granted to P&O during the pandemic” to reverse it.

P&O is demanding nearly £15million in government grants in 2020, including furlough payments for its employees.

Sir John added: “Don’t let anyone tell you this is the free market. The free market put little girls in factories and boys in mines, both endangering them at sea; we thought those dark days were over – P&O are either too weak to see that or too cowardly to know.”

Dover MP Natalie Elphicke described the behavior of P&O and DP World as “shabby, disgraceful and totally unacceptable”.

P&O Ferries said the decision to lay off 800 employees was “tough” but “not a viable business” without “making quick and meaningful changes”.

It said: “We have made a loss of £100m year on year which has been covered by our parent company DP World. That’s not sustainable. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries.”

P&O Ferries is one of the UK’s leading ferry companies, carrying more than 10 million passengers and around 15% of all freight to and from the UK before the pandemic.

However, like many transport companies, it has seen a slump in demand during the pandemic.

P&O is owned by DP World, the multinational port and logistics company based in Dubai. In 2020, the company paid a dividend of £270 million to shareholders.

P&O Ferries, which transports up to 15% of all imported goods to the UK and carries 10 million passengers a year, would have looked like a viable bet following a takeover by Dubai-based ports operator DP World.

But that was before the pandemic devastated the travel industry.

DP World asked the UK government for £150m in direct aid in 2020 to help protect so-called essential supply routes and jobs.

However, as the company had applied for more than £15million in grants and furlough support and paid £270million in dividends to shareholders, it was denied.

As fuel costs escalate, DP World now says the losses it is making on P&O ferries – £100m last year – are unsustainable.

So it lowers other important costs – personnel – to survive.

But that announcement comes days after DP World, now finally owned by the Dubai government, revealed it had made over £8bn in revenue worldwide last year.

It is also behind the ports of London Gateway and Southampton. Following Thursday’s announcement, some may question the wisdom of the company’s involvement in such important infrastructure.

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