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

BHS staff atleast had notice that the company was in trouble.
The P&O announcement is a shock.

They’re going to use a third party contractor?
I’m sure it’s down to the parent company, maybe not P & Os decision but a disgraceful way to treat staff.

The RMT Union said it’s illegal what’s happened, so will wait and see.

I don’t know why people said this is linked to Brexit. Actually, this shows the contrary. It actually shows how some foreign countries hire and fire its staff.

I’m not sure how they’ll get “foreign” workers to come here to work though for the company. How will they get around the legal loopholes, visas et etc?

Their licence to dock in ports in the UK should be suspended, and all assets of directors in the UK frozen.

So many Uk employment rules and regulations. HR. Safeguarding. Mental Health. Pensions. An endless array of things to abide by. And yet a company can do this? Really?

Even if UK laws disallowed what they've done - and that's not yet clear - it's not much use if the employers are a foreign company
They may have been asked to broadly follow our rules when P&O was sold to them, and no doubt they'd have agreed in order to get the deal, but if they then choose to go their own way it all gets very complicated

A sadness here is that if P&O had just gone bust the jobs may all have been lost anyway, but I agree with a PP that other ferry companies may now do the same in order to remain competitive

Actually, this shows the contrary. It actually shows how some foreign countries hire and fire its staff.

P&O is still a UK company, all its directors live her and most are English. The investors are from the UAE, but the people responsible for this as here in the UK.

I’m not sure how they’ll get “foreign” workers to come here to work though for the company. How will they get around the legal loopholes, visas et etc?

It's said that 15% of British freight uses cross channel ferries, so government will obviously wish the routes to continue

Therefore I've no doubt a way will be found around the visa issue, even if it's called just "an emergency measure"

@jessy100

Another brexit bonus! This wouldn't have happened if we were still in the EU. Just saw a Labour bloke from Hull ranting about workers rights. 68% of people from Hull voted for brexit. You reap what you sow.

Surely this is what Remainers want though? A global market for the workforce. Rather than a xenophobic little Island.

@jessy100

Another brexit bonus! This wouldn't have happened if we were still in the EU. Just saw a Labour bloke from Hull ranting about workers rights. 68% of people from Hull voted for brexit. You reap what you sow.

When I said that this is nothing to do with Brexit, that the misinformation needs to stop I meant comments like this and this specific situation.

It isn't UK employment law, nor EU employment law. It is not only UK staff, it is other, EU, countries.

And it isn't even vaguely amusing to see such vapid vitriol when thousands of people have just list their jobs.

@Choccy21

BHS staff atleast had notice that the company was in trouble. The P&O announcement is a shock.

They’re going to use a third party contractor?
I’m sure it’s down to the parent company, maybe not P & Os decision but a disgraceful way to treat staff.

The RMT Union said it’s illegal what’s happened, so will wait and see.

I don’t know why people said this is linked to Brexit. Actually, this shows the contrary. It actually shows how some foreign countries hire and fire its staff.

I’m not sure how they’ll get “foreign” workers to come here to work though for the company. How will they get around the legal loopholes, visas et etc?

It's related to Brexit as they never sacked the French workers who are protected by an EU Directive that the UK opted out of with Brexit.

For those curious about their profit and losses for 2019 and 2020, I've posted a link:

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

You can click on Full Accounts for their profit and loss statement. They haven't filed 2021 yet....

@jessy100

I would have no qualms about using p&o, and will use them if they are cheaper than the tunnell!

Not having principles is nothing to boast about.

@Ticketybooboo I was wondering about that. Didnt Hull (don't know about Dover) vote strongly in favour of Brexit?

I've no idea how they managed to keep it so quiet. No-one seemed to have any idea at all this morning.

The one thing they’ve done wrong is how they’ve delivered the news, with no notice at all - the whole thing has been managed badly. However, if the company had done it more appropriately, with notice, then they have every right to make cuts when they have been losing money in the last couple of years. They’re a business, not a charity.

However, if the company had done it more appropriately, with notice, then they have every right to make cuts when they have been losing money in the last couple of years

They have made their staff redundant. The definition of redundancy means that the position is redundant - no longer needed. However P&O are replacing their current staff with workers who will do exactly the same job, but for less money. This is hire and fire and it's a slippery slope for all employees.

@Wbeezer Dover, along with all of Kent except for Tunbridge Wells, voted for Brexit.

There is very little employment protection in the UK.

P&O fury as 'ZERO French staff fired' despite all UK crew being let go with 800 jobs lost
www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1582344/p-and-o-job-losses-zero-french-staff-all-uk-seafarers-ferry-cruises

Yes Hull voted strongly in favour of Brexit. Larkin’s ‘isolate city…lonely northern daughter’. End of the line. No post-industrialization romanticism of its lost economic base here - not too much interest in fishing and shipping compared to the staple industries of coal, steel, shipbuilding etc…Out of sight, out of mind. In so many ways.

A beautiful proud city full of wonderful people. But forgotten, isolate. The Brexit rhetoric was so seductive.

The people who lost their jobs today don’t ‘deserve it’ because of Brexit. The truth is always more complex.

Labour’s Barry Gardiner says P&O have a £146m deficit in their pension fund. Yet their parent company spent £147m sponsoring a golf tournament.

Hull' along with other cities proved itself to be racist and mean spirited during the brexit campaign. I remember vividly watching a talk I g heads thing where all but one contributer blamed immigrants workers for their shit and unfulfilling lives!

They paid 250 million to shareholders and 40% of company is Russian money. Happy to take UK taxpayer money during lockdown

@Leftbutcameback

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?

Of course. Add the protesters in Dover to this.

@Pedallleur

They paid 250 million to shareholders and 40% of company is Russian money. Happy to take UK taxpayer money during lockdown

They did? Then it's a shame they can't be made to return that money.

@Livelovebehappy, no, the way they delivered the news is not the only thing they have done wrong. They've broken more than one law, so will likely face a class action lawsuit. Hence they're now offering "enhanced" redundancy payments, to try to reduce the number of claimants who seek compensation for unfair dismissal. P&O would most certainly lose any case, but it seems they only thought about that after the event. P&O may not be a charity, but businesses are supposed to comply with the law. They can't just do whatever they like.

It's related to Brexit as they never sacked the French workers who are protected by an EU Directive that the UK opted out of with Brexit

The UK didn't opt out of it, it pre-dates Brexit. twitter.com/little_pengelly/status/1504482049268203523/photo/1

...a business, not a charity

They asked for and received handouts during covid.

It seems socialism is ok when it benefits businesses and their shareholders.

The redistribution of wealth upwards has been happening for a long time now in the UK.