P&O Ferries: People of Hull urged to join march to stop Pride of Hull from sailing on Saturday

The ferry has been berthed at King George Dock since last Thursday when P&O Ferries sacked 800 workers without notice - including 82 ratings and officers from the Pride of Hull - and replaced them with cheap agency staff.

A new crew, said to be a mixture of Asians and east Europeans and working for as little as £1.80 an hour, went on board on Monday, but the RMT union, who held a protest at King George Dock, said they had not had enough time to familiarise themselves with the vessel.

Gary Jackson, RMT regional organiser for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, claimed using crew who had only been on board a few days was an “unsafe practice”, adding: “On Saturday we’d like to see everybody coming down and making sure that ship doesn’t sail anywhere.

“The Government aren’t supporting us and the company isn’t coming back round the table.”

Conservative MPs abstained from voting on Monday on Labour’s non-binding motion calling on the Government to reinstate staff and suspend the contracts and licences of Dubai-based owner DP World.

Mr Jackson said people needed to make a stand or other companies like Stena Line and DFDS could follow suit, adding: “Everybody in every single industry is at risk - this is a lot bigger than P&O Ferries. Boris Johnson said what P&O Ferries have done is illegal - my first thought is what are you going to do about it?

“They should be stopping P&O Ferries leaving the country until they reach an agreement, until they make sure the vessels are crewed properly.”

A sacked worker with 22 years service said the supposedly generous compensation being offered workers, which equates to 2.5 weeks per year served, plus 26 weeks in salary in lieu of notice and consultation, was a “smokescreen” and “to make them sound good”, adding: “I would never work for them again.”

Among the demonstrators was a chief officer from a ferry company, from Scunthorpe whose wife was made redundant from Pride of Hull in 2020.

He was deeply concerned that the sacking of all UK crew was a “nail in the coffin for British seafarers” as there will no longer be the stepping stone that jobs on ferries offer to youngsters from the “classic seafaring communities” of Hull, Grimsby and Scunthorpe.

He said: “One of the main things is the trainees that now won’t come up through the system, the next generation of pilots, harbour masters, senior crew, and we are an island nation.

“If we don’t preserve these jobs we are not going to be able to supply the experienced seafarers we need in 20 to 30 years time.”

And Jo Gibbins, secretary of Hull and District Trades Council, said dockers in Hull 50 years ago would have been earning more than £1.80 an hour, because it was nationalised industry.

He added: “If we allow Hull to become a Freeport, forget £1.80 an hour - it is an absolute disgrace.”