P&O Ferries has confirmed it is sacking 800 UK seafarers with immediate effect.
The company ordered all its ships into UK ports on Thursday in an attempt to replace UK crews with cheaper foreign agency workers.
P&O, which was affected by pandemic lockdowns, said it remains committed to serving its vital routes to Europe.
“However, in its current state, P&O Ferries is not a viable business,” it said.
It pointed to year-on-year losses of £100m ($131m), which have been covered by Dubai Ports and shipping parent DP World.
“This is not sustainable. Our survival is dependent on making swift and significant changes now. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries,” it added.
The company called the decision difficult but necessary.
The move was made only after “seriously considering all the available options”.
The shipping company said it is now starting a process of serving immediate severance notices to crews.
But P&O will also be compensating them for this lack of advance notice with “enhanced compensation packages”.
Future viability secured?
“In making this tough decision, we are securing the future viability of our business which employs an additional 2,200 people and supports billions in trade in and out of the UK,” the shipowner said.
“And we are ensuring that we can continue serving our customers in a way that they have demanded from us for many years,” the company added.
P&O Ferries has been operating without needing to make repayments on £120m of loans for the past two years, according to the parent company’s financial filings.
But the grace period granted by banks expires this month.
Unions have called the redundancies a “betrayal” of British crew members.
Hull MP Karl Turner published a photo on Twitter of what he said were vehicles containing foreign agency workers waiting to board the 1,376-passenger Pride of Hull (built 2001) at the King George Dock in the port.
But RMT and Nautilus International union members, both officers and ratings, are refusing to leave.
Turner said: “They will not be boarding her.”
“I’m hearing that the captain of the Pride of Hull will refuse to allow the police to board the vessel if P&O Ferries ask them to do so,” the MP added.
Time to step back?
The Unite union has called on P&O to step back from the "savage" sackings and work to save UK jobs.
Unite said the decision has sent shockwaves around UK shipping, bringing key ports to a standstill and plunging the ferry service into chaos.
Unite’s 160 members at P&O are not among those to lose their jobs, but the move is causing widespread unease and insecurity amongst members, the union added.
General secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a shocking move from P&O that should not be tolerated. Unite sends its solidarity to the seafaring crew, whose service as key workers during the pandemic has quickly been forgotten by P&O."
“We offer you our support as you seek to defend your jobs. It is a disgrace that any employer in the UK is able to treat its workers in this way.”
Bobby Morton, Unite’s national officer for docks and the maritime industry, described P&O as a "last redoubt" in a cut-throat sector, employing UK workers on UK contracts.
"This move today sends a very concerning signal that these standards are now under attack," he said.
Shareholders to be lobbied
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) said they would not accept the redundancies.
"We all must question how a company can literally sack its entire workforce on less than 24 hours’ notice,” said ITF general secretary Stephen Cotton.
“We are shocked and angry that P&O, a company that pocketed thousands of pounds of UK taxpayer’s money during the pandemic, intends to forcefully remove crews,” he added.
ETF general secretary Livia Spera said: "It is truly staggering that at a time when the world is just starting to recover from a pandemic, with a war on our doorstep, P&O can move to sack its entire workforce.”
Spera is intending to lobby P&O shareholders, investors and customers to demand P&O reverse the decision.
