After P&O Ferries sacked 800 of their staff via a Microsoft Teams calls last month, failing to consult with workers or trade unions in the process, the company now faces protests at its sites across the UK.
Despite concerns that the ferry operator has essentially “got away with,” the mass sackings, which were in breach of employment law, the RMT trade union is pushing forward with a campaign against P&O Ferries and calling for better workers rights across the maritime sector.
The government has announced a package of measures aimed at tightening up regulations for seafarers going forward, and a change to minimum wage law for maritime workers which they say will remove the incentive for P&O to replace their former staff with agency workers.
P&O can’t ‘get away with it’
The RMT trade union, which represents many of the seafarers who’ve lost their jobs, has called on the public to boycott P&O Ferries, and warned that other companies will be emboldened to mistreat their workers if the ferry operator is seen to “get away with it”.