P&O Ferries - major announcement today. All ships in port

[cakeorwine]

Gosh. I wonder what's going on

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60779001

And if you’re wondering why UK employment law doesn’t apply, apparently international shipping routes are excluded.

I am absolutely shocked. P&O should be ashamed.

I don't use companies who treat their staff poorly so I will be giving them a very berth (pardon the pun!).

Due to travel with them at the beginning of April. Wondering whether to cut our losses (we can cancel and get some money back but not all of it) and book with another operator.

@Leftbutcameback

Interesting interview with the MP for Hull on radio 5 earlier. He said that there was a ferry in dock there and the workers were sitting in a refusing to leave. The agency staff who had been brought in to replace them were apparently from Eastern Europe.

He explained that they aren’t subject to UK legislation relating to employment rights. If we had still been part of the EU they would’ve had some protection, but to a much lesser standard than UK employment law. But he thought that the EU legislation hadn’t been bought across into our legislation and so they had none at all.

Feel so very sorry for the staff losing their jobs like this.

He explained that they aren’t subject to UK legislation relating to employment rights. If we had still been part of the EU they would’ve had some protection, but to a much lesser standard than UK employment law. But he thought that the EU legislation hadn’t been bought across into our legislation and so they had none at all.

That doesn't make any sense - UK employment rights haven't changed since we left the EU. If they aren't subject to UK law now, they weren't then. Any EU protection they had then, they would have now.

Not rtft yet seen on fb as I have friends and family who are p&o employees or related to. I'm just hearing bits and pieces at the moment there are apparently concerns re employees basically being abandoned in other countries ffs!

Disgusting way to treat people!

But I don't just mean p&o the govt are also at fault for not ensuring uk employees have decent protection from such utterly vile treatment by an employer.

This is not how uk businesses should be run!!

Feel for those that were fired without notice.

Apparently, P&O ferries made a profit in 2020 according to accounts submitted to Companies House in Oct 2021. (Hope I'm reading it right!!)

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00237626/filing-history

Who knows what's going?!

@daimbarsatemydogsbone no, they don’t have the EU protection any more. Why do you think they would still have that? We’ve left the EU so each bit of legislation needed to be carried over (by SIs) and this wasn’t, together with some others I’m aware of.

@SamphiretheStickerist

It's exactly what brexiters wanted for UK employers. Able to fire at whim. No protections for employees.

Could we stop with that misinformation? It's nothing to do with Brexit or UK employment law. 2 years of Covid and having a non UK ownership will change a lot of things for many organisations.

I think you're both right.

Deregulation is very much part of the Britannia Unchained vision for Brexit - British workers the worst idlers in the world, etc etc. So yes it is what (many) Brexiters and definitely the ERG lot wanted.

In the present case, neither UK nor EU law appear to be relevant, however.

@Leftbutcameback

And if you’re wondering why UK employment law doesn’t apply, apparently international shipping routes are excluded.

That's nothing to do with Brexit though.

he thought that the EU legislation hadn’t been bought across into our legislation and so they had none at all.
This may be a reference to the private members bill last year that would have outlawed fire and re-hire. Many EU countries have such legislation. But our govt instructed their MPs to abstain so it didnt pass.

[quote Leftbutcameback]@daimbarsatemydogsbone no, they don’t have the EU protection any more. Why do you think they would still have that? We’ve left the EU so each bit of legislation needed to be carried over (by SIs) and this wasn’t, together with some others I’m aware of.[/quote]
As a lot of people were always keen to point out - there was no "EU protection" - it was employment rights (some of which were based on EU directives) that were in our own law. None of them has been repealed or replaced.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone I explicitly didn’t make any reference to Brexit at all re:their UK rights so please don’t imply I did. The lacuna excluding these workers is a long standing one.

Just to be clear - Hire and Fire, as abhorrent as it is, has always been a thing - and it's banned in some EU countries and not others.
The downturn in trade with EU which has led P&O into financial difficulties is very obviously to do with Brexit and Covid combined.

[quote Leftbutcameback]@daimbarsatemydogsbone I explicitly didn’t make any reference to Brexit at all re:their UK rights so please don’t imply I did. The lacuna excluding these workers is a long standing one.[/quote]
My apologies - I thought that's what you saying, happy to be corrected.

I sincerely hope this is P&O's downfall.

We don't need employers like this in the UK.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone - that’s not quite a correct summary of how EU law works. Some had direct effect and that means it had been put into UK law. Some had indirect effect though being EU legislation, and our being part of that system, which is a bit more complicated in terms of bringing a case.

Anything which already had direct effect didn’t need any action taken when we left the EU. Anything which was indirect did need action so it still applied. An awful lot of legislation did go through this process but not all.

@gogohm didn’t realise! Thank you. They probably need to consider a rebrand!

They're losing £100m year on year which is being covered by the parent company in Dubai. I guess DP World have said enough is enough and are looking to restructure the business to reduce cost, or they'll just wind it up.

Now whether the Government see this a strategic transport link and buys it off the Holding Company remains to be seen.

The only problem with "Nationised" Companies is they go on strike at a drop of a hat ( see TfL ) and lose even more money.

I’ve heard some people mention freight - if they are not running for a few days is this going to cause issues with lorries going across the channel?

Balaclavas and handcuffs? How is that legal?

Fuck P&O

This is not how uk businesses should be run!!

P&O are not a UK business.

People in balaclavas going onto the ships and removing/trying to remove staff?

Sky news said

There is a sit in

Within a very short time, many passengers and freight services will use P+O ferry services again without any qualms at all.

Most people just want to get to their destination and rarely think of the employees on their modes of transport.

Thank god we are travelling via the Chunnel! ! Poor workers but they are planning to staff them with cheap Colombian agency staff so it's not a going bust reason.