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

I was also going to say it isn't Brexit related

I doubt anyone who wants to blame it will listen.

If P&O isn't actually a British company, I have no idea which employment law applies. Feel really sorry for them though, this sucks.

In reality, I don't think the senior mgmt staff will have any trouble finding work. They never do. Probably had advance warning and have something lined up.

www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/exclusive-inside-zoom-call-where-p-o-staff-redundancies-rev-264130/

The moment that a P&O ferries boss announced that all crew members had been made redundant with immediate effect has been revealed.

In a virtual speech seen by KentOnline, a company boss informed employees that their contracts were terminated due to losses of more than £200 million in two years.

....

There’s photos online of the agency workers sat dockside waiting to board! This has obviously been planned for ages! Agency workers aren’t U.K. nationals apparently, so yes cheaper labour .

"Dubai-owned company with ships registered in the Bahamas and Cyprus sacks British and French workers" doesn't have the same populist "blame everything on Brexit" ring to it though.

No, but why is it owned by Dubai? Why is it no longer a British Company?

And if the agency staff are waiting to board does that mean that the current/sacked workers can’t apply for agency work as the positions are filled? Though it sounds like they won’t be offering a U.K. living wage anyway!

Small fry compared with employee and movement of goods concerns but I'm slightly regretting booking an overland holiday involving ferries this summer now, trying to be more environmentally friendly and not fly. I don't think I could cope with yet another year when we can't plan ahead.

If there’s a stand off for days it’s really going to affect food supplies, etc even if only short term.

Between 8 and 900 staff laid off. Some unprofitable routes discontinued. P&o bought by Saudi company 3 years ago Purely business decision, supposedly

Rosehugger did you book with P&O though?

@Peregrina

"Dubai-owned company with ships registered in the Bahamas and Cyprus sacks British and French workers" doesn't have the same populist "blame everything on Brexit" ring to it though.

No, but why is it owned by Dubai? Why is it no longer a British Company?

Looks like it was sold in 2006 but now I'm not clear how British it was before as the US seem to be involved in the sale controversy

Joys of globalism! (That's sarcasm).

The ferries will be manned by poor exploited slave workers from Dubai.

Instead of being exploited on land in UAE they will be slaves on board instead.

I always thought companies paid a higher rate to agencies than hiring staff directly?

Or is it that they are using a non-Uk agency, whose rates are still lower than what they were paying UK staff?

They pay a higher rate but have none of the employer on costs which can be quite high, and of course the agency staff get nowhere near the amount the agency are being paid.

@crackofdoom

Rosehugger did you book with P&O though?

No, it's with a holiday company. Should be ok, I'm just worrying, probably unnecessarily, after so many disrupted plans in the last two years.

It's not about blaming Brexit, but the message was that Brexit would create more jobs, pay higher wages, give better protection, all the things were were led to believe were caused by being in the EU. All blamed on cheap foreign labour.

Clearly there were always more issues to address than Brexit could solve.
We have exited the EU and still 800 workers are being shafted...

@kittensinthekitchen

I always thought companies paid a higher rate to agencies than hiring staff directly?

Or is it that they are using a non-Uk agency, whose rates are still lower than what they were paying UK staff?

They usually do in terms of hourly rates. But don’t have to pay sick leave, holidays, pension, training etc - or redundancy… So it’s cheaper and more flexible. Of course it works both ways. You get what you pay for usually.

I wonder who will own the profit-trousering Agency?

@PaddleBoardingMomma

Stena did something similar many years ago when I worked for them, they keep most staff on zero hour contracts and out of the union so you have essentially no rights. Irish ferries have a huge percentage of Polish crew, they sacked all the Irish and British seafarers years ago. I'm not shocked at all.

I remember this happening- the few remaining Irish staff complaining about it . Exploitative.

Balls. We are booked on the Hull Rotterdam route in less than 2 weeks time (for a holiday originally booked for April 2020...).

There isn't another option on that route either

@Spasiba Whether it's Brexit related or not, I distinctly remember the leave campaign saying that this was exactly the sort of thing that a leave vote would put a halt to - cheap foreign labour taking British jobs.

Can you explain why that hasn't worked out, please?

@oakleaffy

Sadly it's always been a risk when you're a seafarer, you're entirely disposable and often you're made aware of it regularly. It started with zero hours contracts, you could be held on board for 3-4 weeks at a time and if you declined you didn't get called back, or you could have your shifts pulled with a few hours notice. It was an absolute nightmare for colleagues with children, but at the time it was all there really was in Holyhead that paid ok and kept your kids fed and a roof over your head. It's only gotten worse though, slowly as people left they were replaced with Polish staff, and Irish ferries went ahead and pretty much sacked the remainder and went fully outsourced for their crews. Stena (whom I worked for) was slightly better, but there are people who have been there 10+ years now, still on their 0 hour contract and absolutely terrified it's them next. All the ships are registered elsewhere, Cyprus or the Bahamas, meaning they have no obligation to be a fair employer. It's very sad.

I see the Conservatives recently voted against a law banning hire and fire policy.
And DP World has recently made major investments in UK ports.
This is because the Conservatives have recently made those ports into "free ports", which is a good way to avoid taxes.
I'm sure this is all perfectly legit though.

@ThatsNotMyGolem

There's nothing lower than scab labour.

I disagree - come on, if you’re out of work and shit deep in poverty, you take your work where you can find it. Not everyone has the choice of principled labour

[quote TypicaIMe]@Spasiba Whether it's Brexit related or not, I distinctly remember the leave campaign saying that this was exactly the sort of thing that a leave vote would put a halt to - cheap foreign labour taking British jobs.

Can you explain why that hasn't worked out, please?[/quote]
FFA it's nothing to do with Brexit. These jobs are on boats not UK based jobs and the new contractors are likely not European (more likely UAE).