P&O bosses faced a furious backlash from their Scottish workforce yesterday after they fired 800 workers.
The ferry operator’s Cairnryan base was targeted by angry campaigners who demanded their jobs back after being fired to make way for cheaper casual labour.
Protestors were incensed that workers, including 83 at the Cairnryan to Larne route, were sacked virtually on the spot, with zero notice period, with an army of casual workers lined up to replace them.
Union bosses laid down a list of demands at yesterday’s rally, claiming that if P&O is allowed to get away with the “fire and rehire” scandal, it will be repeated again and again by greedy corporate giants.
The RMT and Nautilus International unions both call for:
•the immediate reinstatement of all staff who want jobs back
•a traveller boycott of P&O meantime
•fast-tracked UK laws to specifically ban fire and rehire for any companies who operate in the UK
•clawing back government grants, including furlough, from P&O and cutting them out of future handouts
RMT Spokesman Gordon Martin said: “We are dealing here with a company that is happy to make scabs of foreign workers, while exploiting them on appalling wages and bad terms and conditions.
“Meanwhile the Scottish workers who have dedicated their lived to this company are trying to deal with the reality of having no jobs and no real prospect of replacing the ones they lost.
“We call for the immediate rescinding of the sackings and the immediate introduction of laws that can stop this from happening again.
“We have had great support from people who say they will not use P&O again and it’s clear they have tarnished their reputation forever with their actions.
“But it is not too late for them to see sense and mitigate the damage they have caused.”
Retred P&O worker Andy Cummings, who was union shop steward during a 39 year career with P&O, said: “It’s dark times we are in and I never thought I’d see something like this from P&O.
“There have been job losses before but they abided by the law and gave the proper 90 days notice.
“But what we have now is a ruthless dictatorship.
“Right now we are seeing it with seamen and women but you can bet your life that if they get away with this they will be coming back for dockers and office workers.
“A line needs to be drawn here or unions across the UK will be sunk.”
Labour MSP Colin Smyth echoed calls for the sackings to be cancelled.
He said: “P&O has been an important employer in this part of Scotland and they have had great loyalty from staff. I call on them to reverse these sackings.
“I also agree that the UK needs specific legislation to stop this happening again.
“The Scottish Government does also need to take notice that the roads infrastructure here needs to be dramatically improved, as P&O has used the poor roads as an excuse for its actions. There are, however, no excuses for the shameful way they did this.”
Around 150 demonstrators included representations form the other side of the Irish Sea, with sacked Irish workers slamming P&O.
Chef Gale Dowey, a 46-year-old RMT rep, said: “I was on a break for St Patrick’s Day when I heard I was getting the sack and I’m in a state of shock to be honest.
“I was getting calls from colleagues with horror stories. Some were frogmarched off the ship by security staff and told they couldn’t even get stuff from their rooms.
“They were treated like criminals when, in fact they were loyal staff with decades of service who had just been told their careers were over. It beggars belief.”
Nautilus union spokesman Micky Smyth said he had spoken to men and women in tears.
He said: “There were security guards with balaclavas and kitted out with handcuffs taking staff off the boats. You wouldn’t believe this could happen in Britain - bit it did, no matter what P&O bosses say about the way they carried it out.”
Former Scottish Labour leader told protestors the fight will continue for months if necessary. He called for the lost jobs to be reinstated and P&O to be booted of the UK routes.
Unions intend to target the Glasgow offices of Clyde Marine, the agency that recruited foreign workers to replace Scottish staff, on Monday.
P&O Ferries, which transports passengers and freight, operates four routes: Dover to Calais; Hull to Rotterdam; Liverpool to Dublin; and Cairnryan, Scotland, to Larne, Northern Ireland.
DP World was criticised for paying a £270 million dividend to shareholders at the end of April 2020 while P&O Ferries cut around 1,100 jobs as demand for travel collapsed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
