P&O Ferries fires 800 seafarers

P&O Ferries carries greater than 10 million passengers and a couple of.2 million units of freight between ports in the UK and Europe every year. The corporate, which is owned by Dubai’s logistics group DP World, stated that it had resorted to mass layoffs to make sure its survival.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps stated in a tweet that he was “very involved” concerning the impression on staff.

P&O instructed crew on Thursday to disembark passengers and take away cargo from their vessels, in line with a observe to employees shared by UK lawmaker Karl Turner on Twitter.

RMT, a labor union representing transport staff, had speculated earlier than Thursday’s announcement that tons of of its members would get replaced by international staff — and instructed them to remain on board.

Turner, who represents the town of Hull in northern England, stated that an RMT officer on board ship The Delight of Hull instructed him that at the least 72 crew members have been refusing to disembark. Turner stated he had visited the King George Dock, the place the ship is situated, and noticed two buses of company staff ready to board in addition to two minibuses of safety guards.

Mark Dickinson, the final secretary for Nautilus Worldwide, a union representing maritime staff, referred to as the firings a “betrayal of British staff.”

Susannah Streeter, a senior funding and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, stated the best way the corporate fired staff was unlikely to assist it win clients.

“This might quick flip right into a extreme reputational headache for the corporate, with a giant union combat looming forward,” Streeter stated.

UK commerce has been hit by the pandemic and the nation’s exit from the European Union. Items commerce with the remainder of the world had recovered to 7% beneath 2019 ranges by August final yr, whereas commerce with the European Union was nonetheless down 15%, the Workplace for Funds Accountability stated in October.