How P&O betrayed loyalty of Hull seafarers as backlash grows over sacking of 800 crew members – The Yorkshire Post says

It takes a certain kind of crassness to unite the Tory party and trade union movement. Yet P&O has managed to achieve this after announcing that 800 loyal and often longserving seafarers were to be sacked without warning.

P&O Ferries job losses huge blow for Hull amid port chaos - The Yorkshire Post says

They weren’t even told in person. They were informed by video-link and this bombshell announcement will be felt most acutely in Hull which prided itself on its association with P&O – a loyalty inspired by the dedication of crew members, and their close-knit community, who put safety and public service first at all times. Our thoughts are with them.

But this scandal has also left industrial relations holed beneath the water line to such an extent that the Government, Labour and union movement are duty-bound to work together now to stop these ferries becoming ‘slave ships’.

First, it appears P&O breached employment laws by sacking over 100 staff without a statutory period of consultation. If it has exploited any legal loohole over workers’ rights, it needs to be plugged now.

Second, the Government must seek proof from the operator’s Dubai-based owner DP World that cut-price the agency staff being recruited are fully trained in health and safety. If not, the vessels must stay in port.

Finally, this is appalling customers relations – passengers have had holiday plans ruined; freight is left in limbo and charities are trying to reclaim humanitarian aid destined for Ukrainian refugees that is now stuck in transit.

Given this, P&O should not be surprised to find its future finances in even deeper water than intended if passengers boycott the firm. And its executives only have themselves to blame.

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