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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Graeme Wearden

P&O Ferries ‘give business a bad name’ amid rising anger and protests over sackings – as it happened

P&O Cruises
A protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the sacking of 800 P&O workers near the Port of Dover today
A protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the sacking of 800 P&O workers near the Port of Dover today Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images

Summary: P&O threatened with fines and criminal charges after day of anger

Time to recap, after a day in which P&O Ferries has been deluged in anger, heavy criticism and threats of legal action over its brutal shock sacking of 800 staff.

P&O’s astonishing, and quite possibly illegal, decision to summarily replace seafaring workforce with agency staff is swiftly turning into one of the worst cases of worker mistreatment, and appalling corporate behaviour, of recent years.

The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, warned P&O Ferries it could face an unlimited fine if its summary sacking of 800 British staff is found to have breached the law, as protests against the company’s actions took place at ports across the country.

Writing to the company on Friday, Kwarteng said he wanted to express, “in the strongest possible terms, the UK government’s anger and disappointment”.

He highlighted the taxpayer support received by the firm, including through the furlough scheme, and suggested it did not appear to have followed the procedure required for large-scale redundancies.

“It cannot be right that the company feels tied closely enough to the UK to receive significant amounts of taxpayer money but does not appear willing to abide by the rules that we have put in place to protect British workers.”

In his letter, Kwarteng said failure to give sufficient notice of large-scale redundancies, via the Insolvency Service and the Redundancy Payment Service, “is a criminal offence and can lead to an unlimited fine”.

However, it quickly emerged that Robert Woods, to whom Kwarteng’s letter was addressed, resigned as P&O Ferries’ chair in December last year. Business department officials blamed the error on the fact that the parent company DP World’s website had not been updated.

The shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said:

“The behaviour of P&O Ferries is an absolute scandal and must not be allowed to stand.

“The government have taken a full 48 hours to wake up to how outrageous this act was and all they’ve done is manage to write a letter to the wrong person complaining about the failure to give sufficient notice. They are missing the point. Businesses must not be given free rein to operate in this country while treating British workers with such contempt.”

It also emerged the government was made aware of the move on Wednesday night, the day before P&O staff were dismissed by Zoom.

Criticism rained on P&O from on high, with the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, condemning the sacking of 800 P&O Ferries workers yesterday as inhumane and completely unethical.

Ill-treating workers is not just business. In God’s eyes it is sin.

Boris Johnson’s spokesman said Britain is looking at whether P&O Ferries’ decision to fire 800 staff with immediate effect was lawful, and suggested there could be ramifications for the company.

A letter sent by chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite to staff showed that sacking the workers and replacing them with agency staff will reduce costs by 50%.

But the company has been warned that all P&O Ferries vessels will be subject to inspections before returning to sea to check whether new crews the company has “rushed through” are safe, the Transport Secretary has said.

In a letter to the firm, Grant Shapps also warned the Government was “closely considering” its relationship with both P&O and its parent company, Dubai-based logistics giant DP World.

The RMT union urged passengers and frieght firms to boycott P&O....

..while armed forces minister James Heappey suggested the company should return its furlough money.

There were protests at several ports served by P&O, including Dover, where local Conservative MP, Natalie Elphicke, was heckled:

Among the protesters was the Labour leader of Hull city council, Daren Hale.

“This is devastating news for the city and there is real anger in the community toward P&O,” he said.

He argued that Brexit was partly to blame.

“In the cruise industries there’s already a use of very cheap Filipino labour. One of the promises of Brexit, that we would be able to stop protect workers terms and conditions, has failed at the first hurdle,”

Demonstators also protested outside the central London offices of DP World, which owns P&O Ferries. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told them:

“What P&O has done is a disgrace and disgusting by any standard.”

Mark Dickinson, the General Secretary of seafarers union Nautilus International, says the sackings were a new low for the shipping industry, and “clearly illegal”.

The company is duty bound to consult, and consult with the trade unions. We have collective bargaining agreements for all the vessels on all the routes.

We’ve worked for this company for decades, through difficult times and good times.

This is clearly illegal.

Employment experts said that the sackings were due to insufficient legal protection for workers.

With P&O’s sailing suspended, there were concerns that capacity on crucial freight routes could be further stretched.

On the Dover-Calais route, Danish firm DFDS allowed P&O passengers to put their cars onto its ferries.

Here’s some of our other business stories today:

Goodnight. GW

Updated

The P&O sackings scandal, and the threat of unlimited fines, is also the lead story on Saturday’s Guardian:

P&O Ferries has seen its reputation “shattered” over the dismissal of its UK crews with immediate effect on Thursday, writes the Financial Times tonight.

The decision was described by Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, as “inhumane” and “completely unethical”, while Grant Shapps, transport secretary, said he would review all government contracts with P&O and DP World.

Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary, said P&O had “given business a bad name” and “appeared to have failed to follow” proper processes around notifying ministers when making large groups of staff redundant.

It’s the lead story on the Weekend FT’s front page:

People protest outside the offices of DP World today
People protest outside the offices of DP World today Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

The Guardian view: capitalism’s unacceptable face

P&O Ferries’ sacking of 800 seafarers was a cold-hearted, brutal affair, The Guardian says in an editorial tonight:

Staff lost their jobs without warning. The first inkling many had was when they began watching a corporate video message. Some were marched off ships by security guards wearing balaclavas and carrying handcuffs. Unions said P&O had bussed in lower-paid contract staff from abroad to replace them. This is a betrayal of a workforce who kept Britain supplied throughout the pandemic.

If there was an unacceptable face of capitalism today, it would be worn by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the emir of Dubai and billionaire head of the state that owns and controls P&O. The ferry operator’s chief executive, Peter Hebblethwaite, its third in three years, said the company had to sack workers and replace them with cheaper crew to remain viable. This does not stack up. P&O’s owner DP World, the state-owned ports operator, was flush with cash and could afford to pay sailors properly. This month DP World announced bumper profits of $896m (£751m) in 2021, up from $846m in 2020.

The mass sackings are probably not even lawful. The company did not give ministers the legally mandated 45 days’ notice of its intent. Failure to do so is a criminal offence. What P&O has attempted to do, it seems, is to offer compensation packages that purport to pay their way out of the company’s legal obligations, such as consulting staff. This was probably done to prevent trade unions from seeking an injunction to stop the sackings. Such sops won’t wash with the public, who know that P&O has acted in a cruel, inhumane and unethical manner.

Writing in the Guardian tonight, shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh says the government had fair warning that there were serious issues at P&O Ferries.

Two years ago, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the billionaire head of Dubai-based DP World, the owners of the ferry company, claimed that P&O Ferries needed £257m in aid to avoid collapse and asked the UK government for £150m – all while paying DPW shareholders £270m. They were turned down – and one month later, they made over 1,000 employees redundant.

Yet none of this stopped the Conservatives cosying up with DP World. Last September, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said he was “thrilled” to greenlight hundreds of millions of pounds of DP World investment in Thames Gateway and Southampton.

A month later the company partnered with the Foreign Office’s development finance. And for the last two years, DP World has sat on the UK government’s trade advisory group.

It seems that just like with the Russian oligarchs, the government has lost sight of the national interest, writing blank cheques without asking for anything in return – not even basic protection and human decency towards British workers. Why is it that P&O has sacked almost a quarter of its British staff, while regional media in France is reporting that no French employees have been affected?

Here’s her full piece:

Workers on P&O ferry the Pride of Kent today as it remained moored at the Port of Dover.
Workers on P&O ferry the Pride of Kent today as it remained moored at the Port of Dover. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Our transport correspondent Gwyn Topham has looked into DP World, the owners of P&O Ferries who are in the spotlight over Thursday’s mass sacking of crew:

Among its 70 ports worldwide, the closest to home, as far as most sacked P&O workers see it, are the big container operations at London Gateway and Southampton. Both now are the central hubs of the first freeports, Thames and Solent, putting DP World firmly in the slipstream of post-Brexit government economic policy.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has championed the controversial freeports as a key part of levelling up – allegedly providing more jobs for the deprived port regions. Critics have already questioned the freeport model as potential “mini-tax havens” that could fuel a race to the bottom on regulation, and see more profits sent offshore rather than reinvested in the UK.

DP World however has been a key proponent: it says it has already “replicated in key international locations” the model of Jebel Ali. “By expanding this successful model we now own, develop and operate industrial parks, inland cargo depots, special economic zones and specialist facilities around the world that help to enable trade.”

More politicians may now be questioning an economic model developed in Dubai....

Here’s Gwyn’s full analysis:

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said he is “furious” for the staff sacked by P&O Ferries as the Tories have “created an environment where a bad employer thinks they have licence to tear up staff contracts”.

He tweeted tonight:

“I’ve spoken with staff sacked by P&O Ferries. I’m furious for them and stand with them.

“The Tories have created an environment where a bad employer thinks they have license to tear up staff contracts.

“Labour will introduce a new deal for working people to make work more secure.”

Video: Tory MP heckled by protesters

Here’s a video clip of local Conservative MP, Natalie Elphicke, being heckled at the Dover rally against P&O Ferries’ sackings today.

As flagged earlier, Elphicke faced chants of ‘you voted for fire and rehire’, over the government’s blocking of a ban on the practice last autumn.

Updated

Our legal affairs correspondent Haroon Siddique has analysed the P&O sackings, and explains how a lack of legal protections for workers, rather than Brexit, is to blame:

Despite Boris Johnson’s assurances that Britain’s departure from the EU would be better for UK workers, there have been fears it would be seen by the government as an opportunity to erode workers’ rights in a bid to increase competitiveness.

However, the reality is that, so far at least, there has been no derogation from EU employment rights and the scope for any backsliding is limited.

Contained within the trade and cooperation agreement with the EU, there is a non-regression clause, under which Britain agreed not to reduce employment rights below the standards existing on 31 December 2020 in a manner that would affect trade or investment. The EU could take retaliatory measures such as tariffs if trade or investment were affected and could also legally challenge the regression before a panel of experts.

John Bowers QC, a leading employment barrister and principal of Brasenose college, Oxford, said: “Although the government’s huffed and puffed about changing the law, so far they haven’t. The straightforward statutory redundancy law is purely UK, it’s the redundancy consultation [law] that is EU-related and we haven’t changed that.

Andrea London, a partner in law firm Winckworth Sherwood’s employment team, said Brexit was a “red herring”.....

Instead, Bowers explained, there should be an injunction to stop people dismissing without consultation, rather than the possibility of monetary remedies in the future.

Here’s the full piece:

Angry protests against P&O Ferries take place at ports across UK

P&O Ferries staff protest in Dover, with Natalie Elphicke MP and the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell
P&O Ferries staff protest in Dover, with Natalie Elphicke MP and the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Angry protests against P&O Ferries took place at ports across the UK after the sacking without notice of 800 workers in a move the archbishop of Canterbury denounced as a sin.

Trade unions leaders and politicians of all sides joined sacked P&O workers in Hull, Dover, Liverpool and Larne to protest against the company’s decision to replace all its crew with cheaper agency workers.

The local Conservative MP, Natalie Elphicke, and the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell led a march in Dover with the leaders of the RMT and Nautilus International unions.

They carried a banner that read “Save P&O jobs, save Britain’s ferries”.

Despite speaking out against P&O and holding up a RMT poster against the “jobs carve up”, Elphicke was barracked by some of the protesters. “You voted for hire and rehire,” one shouted. “Tory anti-union laws allow bosses to get away with this,” another said.

“Nonsense, it’s bad business behaviour,” Elphicke replied before leaving the demonstration.

The demonstrations against P&O were backed by a strongly-worded joint statement by the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin. “Ill treating workers is not just business. In God’s eyes, it is sin,” it said.

The statement noted that P&O’s owners, DP World, had made record profits last year and added:

“The move is cynically timed for a moment when world attention is on Ukraine. Done without warning or consultation it is inhumane treats human beings as a commodity of no basic value or dignity and is completely unethical.”

The bishops urged ministers to make forceful representations to the government of Dubai and to stop P&O operating until proper consultation had been carried out. There was also a protest at DP World’s London offices.

People protest outside the offices of DP World today
People protest outside the offices of DP World today Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Here’s the full story:

Grant Shapps has updated his letter too, addressing it to Peter Hebblethwaite this time...

As flagged earlier, the Transport secretary questions the legality of Thursday’s sackings, and says he’s reviewing the company’s contracts with the government.

Shapps has also instructed the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to inspect all P&O vessels closely before they’re allowed to return to sea, to ensure the new crews “rushed through” are safe.

Labour’s transport secretary Louise Haigh has criticised the government for sending their strongly worded letters to the wrong person at P&O Ferries, tweeting:

What an absolute shambles.

The Secretary of State has taken a full 48 hours to bother to write a letter to the wrong person. This workforce deserve so much better than this.

Sky News have more details:

Acknowledging her counterpart’s error, Labour’s transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “The Conservative government is a sinking ship. 48-hours after finding out that 800 British workers would lose their jobs, the transport secretary can’t even figure out the correct person to write to, to protect these workers.

“They deserve better. They deserve a Labour government who will act before the horse has bolted - by ending fire and rehire, and giving them security and respect.”

Ms Haigh, who joined a rally in Dover on Friday, described P&O’s actions as “nothing short of a national scandal”.

Government sent P&O Ferries letter to wrong person

Embarrasingly, Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has republished his letter to P&O Ferries, this time directing it to chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite.

The original, now deleted from Twitter, was addressed to Robert Woods -- who Sky News points out resigned as chairman of the company last December.

Here’s the new one:

I’ve tweaked our earlier post (5.o4pm) to reflect that, but here’s the original error:

Updated

Transport minister questions whether sacking are legal

Britain’s transport minister Grant Shapps said on Friday he was questioning the legality of P&O Ferries’ decision to fire 800 staff with immediate effect, and that he was reviewing the company’s contracts with the government.

Shapps wrote to “Robert Woods, the chairman of P&O Ferries” [Update: except he’s not...], saying the company had received support from government during the coronavirus pandemic and he was “frankly staggered” by the way the workers were sacked.

“I would therefore urge to begin to repair the damage that has been caused to your company’s reputation by pausing the changes announced yesterday.

It is not too late for P&O Ferries to salvage this situation.”

(via Reuters)

Updated

Ministers put ten questions to P&O

The Business department has also asked P&O Ferries to give clear answers to 10 questions regarding yesterday’s sackings, in their letter tonight.

Many of the questions focus on whether P&O Ferries failed to follow the legal duty of an employer to notify the Secretary of State if they plan to make 100 or more employees at one establishment redundant.

Another (number 9) looks at the ‘fire and rehire’ question.

  1. The exact number of staff you have fired this week, and whether any consultation was carried out in advance;

  2. What options were considered before deciding on this cause of action and why those were rejected;

  3. What parts of your business the staff you have fired work in, and the location of the work for each dismissed worker;

  4. What establishments the relevent workers were working at, for the purposes of section 193 [of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992];

  5. If and to the extent P&O consider an establishment to be a ship, the place of registration of the ship and the place(s) between which the ship operates;

  6. What numbers of dismissed workers were based at each establishment;

  7. Whether there was any material difference between the contracts of staff that have been fired, and those that have not. We have seen media reports workers in France and Holland have not been affected in the same way as UK workers;

  8. Any other details of the contracts you think are relevant and we should be aware of;

  9. Whether any of those you have made redundant have been offered alternative roles within the company or similar roles on amended terms and conditions (including via an agency);

  10. What your plans are in relation to other UK based staff. In particular we would like a reassurance that no other similar action is currently being planned.

Kwasi Kwarteng and Paul Scully want an ‘urgent response’ from P&O Ferries, no later than 5pm 22 March (next Tuesday). And there may be more questions, if the answers don’t provide clarity....

Updated

Government: P&O Ferries has given business a bad name

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has told P&O Ferries it has lost the trust of the British public and given business a bad name.

In a blistering letter to “Robert Woods, Chairman of P&O Ferries” Kwarteng and small business minister Paul Scully express “in the strongest possible terms” the government’s anger and disappointment over the way the company handled the redundancy of 800 staff this week.

UPDATE: The letter was then deleted and republished, addressed to “chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite”, after it was pointed out that Woods left his role as P&O Ferries chairman last year.

Staff who gave years of dedicated service to P&O and played a critical role keeping the company going through the pandemic have been treated “appallingly”, they write, adding:

It therefore gives the Government no pleasure to say that P&O has lost the trust of the public and has given business a bad name.

It “cannot be right”, they say, that a company feels tied close enough to the UK to receive millions of pounds of furlough money, but doesn’t seem willing to abide by rules protecting workers.

They then point out the clear rules for employers making large numbers of employees redundant, including consulting with unions and notifying, in advance of these consultations, the government via the Insolvency Service and the Redundancy Payment Scheme.

Underlining (literally) this point, the letter says:

Failure to meet the notification obligation is a criminal offence, and can lead to an unlimited fine.

P&O Ferries appears to have failed to follow this process, the letter continues, so the Insolvency Service has been asked to consider if further action is appropriate.

In the meantime, we would like to understand why you think these rules do not apply to you.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn said the Government “should be doing something very urgent” about the sacking of 800 P&O Ferries workers.

Speaking to protesters outside the central London offices of DP World, which owns P&O Ferries, the former Labour leader said:

“What P&O has done is a disgrace and disgusting by any standard.”

Mr Corbyn called on all trade unions to join the fight of P&O workers who were sacked.
He said:

“This is a fight we have to take on.

“It has been brought to us, we will fight it and we will win.”

Updated

Protesters outside DP World offices

Protesters have gathered outside the central London offices of DP World, the owner of P&O Ferries.

Demonstrators from the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) held up signs which read: “Save Our Seafarers” and “Stop the P&O jobs carve up.”

They also chanted: “Nationalise P&O”, “seize the ships”, and “don’t go P&O” as well as singing: “Solidarity forever”.

The Nautilus union are tweeting from the scene:

The P&O Ferries staff protest in Dover today
The P&O Ferries staff protest in Dover today Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

A Conservative MP was jeered by angry demonstrators who chanted “shame on you” as she attended a protest against P&O Ferries’ decision to sack 800 seafarers, PA reports.

Natalie Elphicke, MP for Dover, was heckled by union members outside Maritime House in the Kent town on Friday, with other protesters shouting: “You voted for fire and rehire.”

As flagged earlier, the Government blocked proposals last October to outlaw businesses from laying staff off and take them back on lower pay and worse conditions.

P&O’s doesn’t look like a typical ‘fire and rehire’, though, as it is taking on new staff through an agency to slash its costs, rather than aiming to take former workers back on worse deals.

PA adds:

Elphicke said she had been talking to the RMT about what could be done about the situation, and nodded her head in agreement with speeches made by members about how they will not stop fighting against the sackings.

P&O Ferries’ shock sackings will cost the company dearly, predicts Katie Maguire, employment partner at solicitors Devonshires:

It faces ‘devastating’ reputational damage to its brand, on top of the possibility of unfair dismissal cases in future, Maguire says:

“The way P&O have flown in the face of employment law beggars’ belief and their potentially unlawful actions will cost them dearly. P&O are potentially looking at compensation pay outs of several million pounds for unfair dismissal claims and for failure to collectively consult, while the reputational damage to their brand will be devastating. P&O have stated that they had no alternative due to significant financial savings needing to be made.

However, I think this short-term thinking will be detrimental to their business as it is difficult to see how P&O will provide the same level of service with unskilled agency staff compared to trained employees who have been in the job for years.”

The Mayor of Manchester at an emergency protest organised by The Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ Union (RMT) in Liverpool
The Mayor of Manchester at an emergency protest organised by The Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ Union (RMT) in Liverpool Photograph: Andy Barton/REX/Shutterstock

Speaking at the protest at the Port of Liverpool, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the Government should consider nationalising P&O, PA Media reports.

Burnham said:

“I say to the Prime Minister: you have to step in and you have to deliver on your commitment to strengthen employment law so this kind of gangster practice can’t be allowed to happen any more.”

Burnham is also backing calls to boycott P&O, saying people should ‘stand firm’ with the sacked workers.

Labour’s Shadow Transport Minister, Louise Haigh in Dover today
Labour’s Shadow Transport Minister, Louise Haigh in Dover today Photograph: Lia Toby/Getty Images

The shadow transport secretary has said that 800 P&O workers losing their jobs is “nothing short of a national scandal”.

Louise Haigh, who joined protesters in Dover, told the PA news agency:

“It’s nothing short of a national scandal that 800 P&O workers were unceremoniously dismissed on a pre-recorded Zoom call yesterday and I wanted to come straight down to Dover to stand with these workers and show my full solidarity.”

Haigh said she would push the government next week to force the company to change course.

“I will be taking action in Parliament next week to push the Government to take sanctions against P&O now, to push leverage on them, to force them to change course and if it’s not illegal ... then we need to make sure it is immediately made so.”

She added that P&O workers “deserve more” than what happened to them.

“This is a disgraceful way for a Dubai-based conglomerate to treat British workers in this country”

The demonstration against the sacking of 800 P&O workers near the Port of Dover today
The demonstration against the sacking of 800 P&O workers near the Port of Dover today Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images

Government knew of P&O Ferries sackings the day before, No 10 admits

It has emerged the government was made aware of P&O’s Ferries’ plan to sack 800 staff and suspend sailings on Thursday the previous night.

Sources at the Department for Transport said the department was made aware of the impending mass sackings and suspension of ferry services on Wednesday night.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman had said on Thursday: “We weren’t given any notice to this.”

He confirmed on Friday that senior officials at the DfT had first been informed about the firm’s plan on Wednesday evening but had kept the information within a small group, because of concerns about commercial sensitivity.

The spokesman said ministers are investigating whether P&O Ferries broke the law, describing the firm’s behaviour as “extreme”.

The RMT union’s general secretary Mick Lynch says the government failed to act once it knew about the plan:

“The fact that the government knew the day before that a foreign owned company planned to cause major disruption to UK ports but did nothing to prevent it is shocking.

Here’s the full story:

Unions are calling for a boycott of P&O Ferries by the public, and businesses, until the 800 workers sacked yesterday have been reinstated.

The RMT have drawn up a four-point plan to protect jobs, services and basic employment standards:

  • The government to demand P&O reverse its decision and hold negotiations with the unions so that jobs and services can be reinstated - If this does not happen the government should use powers to take over the P&O vessels.
  • Remove any government support for P&O owners DP World, including future contracts, including Freeports, and directly support the retention of P&O jobs instead.
  • A widespread public and commercial boycott of P&O – “we won’t go with P&O” until the jobs are reinstated.
  • New Legislation to ensure this can never happen to other UK workers and new laws to protect the long-term future of workers in the UK maritime industry

Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Dover: ill-treating workers is a sin

Ferries are moored in Port of Dover.
Ferries are moored in Port of Dover. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, have condemned the sacking of 800 P&O Ferries workers yesterday as inhumane and completely unethical.

In a joint statement, they say ill-treating workers is a sin in God’s eyes, and that yesterday’s ‘extraordinary move’ is cynically timed, when the world’s attention is on the Ukraine war.

They also urge the government to prevent P&O from operating until a proper consultation with independent oversight has been carried out, and to make ‘urgent and forceful representations’ to Dubai.

Dover must receive extraordinary financial and development assistance if the sackings cannot be legally stopped, they add.

Here’s the statement in full:

P&O: Joint statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Dover

But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” - Amos 5:24

Ill-treating workers is not just business. In God’s eyes it is sin.

P&O has sacked 800 people in Dover, a town dependent on shipping. Dover is a major part of the Diocese of Canterbury which we serve as Bishops.

The extraordinary move is at the command of DP World, the Dubai based and owned parent company, which made record profits last year. The move is cynically timed for a moment when world attention is on Ukraine. Done without warning or consultation it is inhumane, treats human beings as a commodity of no basic value or dignity and is completely unethical.

We call on Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport, to prevent P&O operating until proper consultation has been carried out. Consultation will have to be done with independent oversight as all confidence in P&O management is gone. We call on the UK Government to make urgent and forceful representations to the Government of Dubai, a historic and close ally of the UK.

It is essential that if this move cannot be prevented legally that Dover receive extraordinary financial and development assistance.

A demonstration is also being held outside the port of Hull:

Labour Party Shadow Climate Change and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband speaks during a demonstration against the sacking of 800 P&O workers, outside the Port of Hull
Labour Party Shadow Climate Change and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband speaks during a demonstration against the sacking of 800 P&O workers, outside the Port of Hull. Photograph: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty Images

Around 200 protesters gathered outside the ferry terminal compound in Hull before marching onto the site and banging on the doors of the terminal building, PA Media report.

The marchers, including a number of sacked workers, walked past the tied-up Pride of Hull ferry but got no response from anyone inside the P&O building.

Outside the gates, the rally was addressed by union officials as well as former Labour leader Ed Miliband and Labour’s Hull East MP Karl Turner.

Updated

Here are photos from the protest in Dover against P&O’s decision to sack 800 staff:

Secretary-General of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Mick Lynch speaks to people protesting outside Maritime House in Dover after P&O Ferries suspended sailings and handed 800 seafarers immediate severance notices.
Secretary-General of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Mick Lynch speaks to people protesting outside Maritime House in Dover after P&O Ferries suspended sailings and handed 800 seafarers immediate severance notices. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
Conservative MP for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, speaks during a demonstration against the sacking of 800 P&O workers, near the Port of Dover.
Conservative MP for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, speaks during the demonstration Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
P&O Ferries announcementConservative MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke, outside Maritime House in Dover as people protest after P&O Ferries suspended sailings and handed 800 seafarers immediate severance notices. Picture date: Friday March 18, 2022. PA Photo. See PA story SEA Ferries. Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

Shapps condemns ‘insensitive and brutal’ conduct of P&O staff

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has condemned P&O Ferries for the way it dismissed its 800 workers yesterday.

Speaking at the Conservative spring conference, Shapps was applauded as he told the audience:

I want to take the opportunity to put on record my shock and my dismay at the insensitive and brutal treatment of its employees yesterday.

Sacked via a pre-recorded Zoom video with just 30 minutes notice. No way to treat employees in the 21st century.

Andrew Sparrow’s Politics Live blog has all the action from the spring conference:

UK government looking into legality of P&O sackings

Britain is looking at whether P&O Ferries’ decision to fire 800 staff with immediate effect was lawful, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today.

The spokesman added that there could be ‘ramifications’ for the company.

“We take this issue very seriously, and we are already looking very closely at the actions that this company has taken to see whether they acted within the rules,”

“Once we have concluded that then we will decide what the ramifications are.”

P&O: Job cuts will halve crewing costs

P&O Ferries will halve crewing costs by replacing 800 seafarers with agency workers, according to the boss of the ferry operator.

In a letter obtained by Mirror Online (online here), chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite told staff that the changes to its crewing model will reduce costs by 50%.

He wrote that the firm was:

Severing the contracts of all 800 Jersey-contracted seafaring colleagues with immediate effect and will be compensating them for lack of notice with enhanced severance packages.

Hebblethwaite then explained P&O had entered its new partnership with International Ferry Management (IFM), the agency providing its new crew.

Our new crew are now going through a process of intense familiarisation and training programme on our ships, run by IFM. Only when that process has happened, will we gradually return to a normal service safely and securely - upholding our P&O standards and brand.

This new crew model will reduce our crewing costs by 50% and enable us to better compete and be more responsive to our customers’ needs.

Employment lawyer Stephen Moore, partner at law firm Ashfords, says P&O Ferries could face “numerous claims for unfair dismissal” :

It appears that P&O have failed to provide any meaningful consultation with their employees, failed to notify the Secretary of State for Business of their intention to dismiss these employees, and have not provided adequate notice. Whether or not the company should have transferred the employees under TUPE to the incoming agency is also a consideration.

The employees are likely to have claims for compensation for unfair dismissal and something known as a protective award (13 weeks gross pay for each employee). We note P&O have suggested it has made generous settlement terms.”

Labour: government must suspend DP World licences and contracts

The Labour party are demanding that Boris Johnson “stands up for loyal workers in Britain” over the sacking of 800 P&O Ferries’ staff without notice.

Shadow Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh MP, says the Prime Minister take action including considering:

  • Suspending the contracts and licences of DP World – the owner of P&O Ferries – until this matter is resolved
  • Remove DP World from the UK Government’s Transport Advisory Group where they were appointed by the now Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, “to provide knowledge, experience and strategic expertise” on trade negotiations
  • Claw back taxpayers’ money handed over to DP World during the pandemic
  • Outlaw fire and rehire.

Fire and rehire is the very controversial tactic where firms lay off staff, then take them back on inferiour pay and conditions. Ministers scuppered an attempt to outlaw it last year, and were accused by the TUC of siding with bad bosses.

P&O’s case looks to be slightly different, though -- having fired its sailing staff it is replacing them with workers via the agency International Ferry Management.

Sacked P&O staff could in theory work for the company again, but on worse terms.

Rustom Tata, chairman and head of the employment group at law firm DMH Stallard, explained yesterday:

“That is effectively seeking to avoid having to renegotiate terms with staff and their representatives.

Haigh also wants to know when the government were first notified of the redundancies, and whether ministers knew P&O Ferries were planning to “breach employment law”.

[Reminder: if a company plans to make 100 or more staff redundant, they must hold a consultation of at least 45 days first]

Labour also want to know if the issue was raised during Johnson’s visit this week to the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, whose investment arm is the ultimate owners of P&O Ferries.

Haigh says British seafarers need action from the government, not “meaningless platitudes”:

“That’s why the government must consider suspending licences and contracts held with DP World, claw back every penny of taxpayers money, and outlaw fire and rehire now.

“Boris Johnson went to the UAE with a begging bowl, and as he returned eight hundred British workers were sacked without notice by one of their investment arms.

“The Government must now stand up for loyal workers in Britain being undermined by overseas billionaires.”

Updated

Bank of Russia flags economic contraction, leaves rates at 20%

The headquarters of Russia’s Central Bank in Moscow, back in 2019.
The headquarters of Russia’s Central Bank in Moscow, back in 2019. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

In Moscow, the Bank of Russia has kept its key interest rate on hold at 20%, and said the country faces sharply rising inflation as its economy contracts.

Russia’s central bank said February’s emergency move to double rates from 9.5% (after the invasion of Ukraine) had sustained financial stability and prevented “uncontrolled” price rises.

Russia economy will shrink over the coming quarters, it adds, as the sanctions imposed over the Ukraine war hit its economy.

It says:

Flash indicators, including the Bank of Russia’s business survey, suggest a deterioration of the situation in the Russian economy. Businesses in many industries are reporting production and logistic difficulties amid the trade and financial restrictions imposed on Russia.

A sharp surge in uncertainly weighs heavily on the sentiment and expectations of households and businesses.

The Bank adds that inflation has significantly accelerated since early March, and predicts prices will rise broadly (inflation jumped to 2.2% in a single week after the invasion started).

Current price movements are largely driven by a surge in consumer demand for individual product categories against the background of higher uncertainty and rising inflation expectations, as well as the weakening of the ruble since the beginning of 2022.

The Russian economy is entering the phase of a large-scale structural transformation, which will be accompanied by a temporary but inevitable period of increased inflation, mainly related to adjustments of relative prices across a wide range of goods and services.

In war-ravaged Ukraine, a World Food Programme official has warned that food supply chains are collapsing, with some infrastructure destroyed and many grocery stores and warehouses now empty.

Our Russia-Ukraine war liveblog has more details on the ongoing conflict:

IEA: drive less and WFH more to cushion oil supply shock.

International energy body the IEA has unveiled a 10-point plan to cut energy use, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatened the worst supply shock in decades.

The IEA says consumers should in developed countries should drive slower, car share, fly less, and work from home more.

If carried out across advanced economies, the IEA says it could lower oil demand by over 2.5m barrels a day.

Russia exports around 5m barrels per day, and the IEA estimates the market may lose 3m bpd of Russian oil next month.

IEA executive director Fatih Birol warns:

As a result of Russia’s appalling aggression against Ukraine, the world may well be facing its biggest oil supply shock in decades, with huge implications for our economies and societies,”

“IEA Member Countries have already stepped in to support the global economy with an initial release of millions of barrels of emergency oil stocks, but we can also take action on demand to avoid the risk of a crippling oil crunch,.

Our 10-Point Plan shows this can be done through measures that have already been tested and proven in multiple countries.”

Here’s the plan:

  1. Reduce speed limits on highways by at least 10 km/h
  2. Work from home up to three days a week where possible
  3. Car-free Sundays in cities
  4. Make the use of public transport cheaper and incentivise micromobility, walking and cycling
  5. Alternate private car access to roads in large cities
  6. Increase car sharing and adopt practices to reduce fuel use
  7. Promote efficient driving for freight trucks and delivery of goods
  8. Using high-speed and night trains instead of planes where possible
  9. Avoid business air travel where alternative options exist
  10. Reinforce the adoption of electric and more efficient vehicles

A Ted Baker a store in London.
A Ted Baker a store in London. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters

In other business news, New York private equity firm Sycamore Partners is eying up a potential move to buy UK fashion brand Ted Baker.

The retail investor, which has previously owned brands including Kurt Geiger, confirmed it is considering the takeover approach following reports by Sky News.

In a statement, Sycamore said:

“The company confirms that it is in the early stages of considering making a possible cash offer for Ted Baker.

“There can be no certainty that an offer will ultimately be made nor as to the terms on which any offer may be made.”

Shares in Ted Baker have jumped 20% this morning. having fallen by over 90% since early 2018, hit by weak trading, the discovery of a £58m hole in its balance sheet, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ted Baker says it hasn’t received any approach yet, and that it is making “good progress with its transformation” as it emerges from the pandemic.

Full story: Mass sacking by P&O Ferries ‘a new low’ for shipping, says union

The boss of the maritime union Nautilus said the move by P&O Ferries to sack 800 British crew without warning represented “a new low” for the shipping industry, as he prepared to join protesters at Dover.

Mark Dickinson, the general secretary of Nautilus International, said demonstrations were also planned in Hull and Liverpool on Friday.

“This is a new low moment in history that everyone, including P&O directors, won’t forget,” he said, speaking on the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme.

“This is a new low for a shipping company. It is a dark day for the shipping industry. I have been in this industry for over 40 years and I’ve seen some curve balls and shocking developments but this is a new low for a shipping company – to treat due legal process in such an underhand and callous way has shocked me, it has taken my breath away.”

Dickinson described how he saw “handcuff-trained, balaclava-wearing private security guards deployed” on Thursday.

“To remove my members from their workplaces, from their homes, that is where they live when they are deployed to their vessels,” he said.

“This is a moment in history that people won’t forget and I hope the directors of P&O and DP World never forget this day.”

P&O Ferries should hand back Covid furlough payments, suggests minister

P&O Ferries is facing pressure to return the furlough cash it received in the pandemic.

In his interview with Sky News, Armed forces minister James Heappey suggested the company ought to return the money, reportedly £10m, having sacked its 800 staff yesterday.

Heappey said:

It sounds like exactly the sort of thing that if I were the Treasury I would be asking for, but I don’t know exactly how these things work.

The Independent have more details:

Defence minister James Heappey said it would be “right” for the firm to hand back money claimed during the Covid pandemic – and suggested the government was looking at ways to reclaim it.

“It certainly feels to me that it would be the right thing to do for P&O to hand that money back,” the minister told Times Radio. “I’m sure that colleagues at the Treasury and Department for Transport will be looking into it.”

Updated

Passengers who were booked to take a car on P&O Ferries’ Dover-Calais route can turn to operator DFDS instead.

DFDS, the Danish international shipping and logistics company, says passengers should take their P&O booking details to the DFDS check-in desk:

P&O Ferries has also suspended services between Liverpool and Dublin, Larne in County Antrim to Cairnryan in Dumfries and Galloway, and Hull to Rotterdam.

My colleague Miles Brignall explains:

Those hoping to take ferries to Ireland face having to switch ferry company, and to buy a new reservation. Stena Line runs from Cairnryan to Belfast while Irish Ferries operates from Holyhead to Dublin.

Those travelling from Hull to Rotterdam face the biggest disruption and longest drives. Stena offers Harwich to the Hook of Holland – the nearest replacement for those needing to travel urgently. P&O will have to refund passengers for crossings not taken.

‘There were grown men in tears’: P&O crews stunned by sackings

Former P&O staff members collecting belongings at the Port of Dover yesterday.
Former P&O staff members collecting belongings at the Port of Dover yesterday. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Sacked P&O workers have spoken of their devastation after they unexpectedly lost their jobs on Thursday, my colleague Rachel Hall reports from Dover.

They warned that the redundancies will wreak major damage on a local community in which many people’s livelihoods depend on the shipping company.

Employees were angry that P&O had delivered the message in an online meeting, and dismayed that handcuff-trained security guards were employed to take crew members off ships. They said they had watched former colleagues, who had woken up this morning expecting to complete a normal shift, carry their bags off ships in floods of tears.

Furious ex-staff held a demonstration close to the ports around lunchtime, but had dispersed by early afternoon amid concerns about the impact on their severance offer.

One former employee said many of his ex-colleagues were worried about how they will pay their mortgages, especially since in many households in Dover “both breadwinners” work for P&O.

One 46-year-old P&O crew member, who has worked on the decks for 30 years, said he was worried about how he would support his family with two young children. “The news still hasn’t really sunk in. There aren’t many opportunities in this area,” he said.

“There was no ‘thank you for your service’. There were grown men in tears worrying what to do about their mortgages. We’ve been treated abysmally. This was planned for ages, it’s not off the hoof.”

Here’s Rachel’s story:

Peter Aylott, director of policy at the UK Chamber of Shipping, which represents the industry, said P&O Ferries had “no option but to do something”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

“The company was valued effectively in 2019 at £350m.

“It’s been losing £100m a year through the pandemic, caused by an event that obviously they had no control of. Clearly something had to be done.

“I can’t possibly comment on the conduct of what was done, but I can comment on the fact that 2,200 people’s jobs have been saved, otherwise the company probably would have ended up, I imagine, in liquidation, but of course that’s a bit of speculation.

“What I want to be very clear on is that the company had no option but to do something.”

But Aylott refuses to comment on whether the sackings are legal, as he doesn’t know the facts as to how P&O staff’s were employed.

Q: Is it safe to ship in agency workers to operate ferries in busy routes such as the English Channel (given Nautilus’s safety concerns)?

Aylott says he’s “content and very confident” P&O will ensure the individuals controlling its vessels are familiar with the ship and its systems, and “competent and qualified” to operate them safely.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappey also says the government is powerless to stop P&O’s sackings, telling BBC Breakfast:

“I do think P&O have behaved disgracefully and I wish that P&O had given the Government and the unions more opportunity to engage with them to try to save those jobs.

“Ultimately, it is not something the Government can stop P&O from doing. Now the focus will be on supporting those who have lost their jobs.”

Armed forces minister James Heappey has told Sky News that P&O’s sackings are an “absolutely horrendous way” to treat staff.

He says the Department for Transport were told ‘about the same time’ as P&O staff.

Heappey says there’s a lot of anger among ministers in the DFT, who are “seeing what they can do to make the situation better”.

But Heappey adds that ‘the reality’ is that P&O have made a commercial decision.

“As much as we disagree with it, I fear that for those workers, they’ve been badly let down by their employer.

Updated

Protests scheduled at ports in Dover, Hull and Liverpool

Unions will hold demonstrations in Dover, Hull and Liverpool today to condemn P&O for sacking 800 staff.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said:

“We need to send a message to ruthless employers and the government alike, that when working people are treated so abysmally, there is a militant response from the trade union movement.

“This example of gangster capitalism which our members in P&O have been subjected, is what lies ahead for other workers up and down the country if we do not all take a stand.”

Here are the details:

  • Dover: 12.00 midday - meet Maritime House Snargate Street, Dover CT17 9BZ
  • Hull: 12.00 midday– King George Dock, Hull HU9 5PR
  • Liverpool: 1.00pm Main Liverpool Port entrance Liverpool L21 1LA

Nautilus: serious safety concerns

Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson says the wholesale replacement of P&O Ferries staff with agency workers has safety implications.

The union has written to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency with their concerns that new crew would be operating busy routes such as P&O’s Dover-Calais crossing.

He told Today:

There are serious safety concerns, which is why the company cannot reintroduce services with the lower-paid agency crew that they’ve recruited via this company called International Ferry Management of Malta.

They’re now training the crew and familiarising them with the vessels, Dickinson explains.

The Maritime and Coastal Agency will have to be “absolutely clear and confident that the new crew, unfamilar with the route, with the berths” can travel routes such as English Channel.

It’s like walking across a six-line motorway at rush hour, six, seven or eight times a day, Dickinson explains:

This is an intensely worrying situation. We’ve written to the Maritime Coastguard Agency and we hope and we pray that they will do their job.

“I know they will. They will do their job and make sure the ships are safe.”

Updated

Introduction: Dark day for shipping after 'clearly illegal' P&O sackings

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.

P&O Ferries is facing widespread outrage and the prospect of legal action after its shock move yesterday to sack 800 seafaring staff over a video call.

Passenger and freight shipping routes could experience at least a week of disruption after the group dismissed its workers, who it plans to replace with cheaper agency staff in a brutal mass firing.

Mark Dickinson, the General Secretary of seafarers union Nautilus International, says the sacking have ‘ripped the guts out of everybody’.

He told Radio 4’s Today Programme

It is a dark day in the shipping industry.

I’ve been in this game for over 40 years and I’ve seen some curveballs and some shocking developments over those times, but this is a new low.

This is a new low for a shipping company to treat the due legal process in such an underhand and callous way has shocked me, taken my breath away.

Dickinson says Nautilus and the RMT union are “actively progressing” their legal response to the “clearly illegal” move.

The company is duty bound to consult, and consult with the trade unions. We have collective bargaining agreements for all the vessels on all the routes.

We’ve worked for this company for decades, through difficult times and good times.

This is clearly illegal.

P&O Ferries yesterday said it was not a viable business in its current state, as it was making a £100m loss year-on-year.

Dickinson says he recognises the difficulties the company has faced, particularly over the last two years. But it’s wrong to take it out on the crew - some of whom have spent their whole working lives with P&O Ferries.

To treat them like this is an absolute disgrace.

Yesterday, politicians on both sides called on the government to act to stop what Labour and trade unions called a “scandalous betrayal”.

The shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said P&O Ferries’ dismissals, including the use of “handcuffed-trained security, some wearing balaclavas, marching British crew off their ships” were “the actions of thugs”.

Employment lawyers have also warned P&O may have broken several laws.

Employers are legally required to consult workers before making them redundant, and those wishing to make more than 100 redundancies must notify the business secretary at least 45 days in advance.

P&O could be hit with claims for unfair dismissal, as Tom Long, partner at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, explained:

“If employees are made redundant they can bring a claim of unfair dismissal in the employment tribunal, with the maximum compensation being up to a year’s salary in most cases. If they were not paid their notice or a statutory redundancy payment, claims could also be brought for these payments. If P&O failed to carry out appropriate collective consultation in advance of the dismissals, the trade unions could bring a claim about that failure, with a potential award of up to 90 days’ gross pay per affected employee if the claim succeeded.”

“It appears that P&O will be offering “enhanced severance packages” to staff to compensate them for their dismissals, but whether that offer will be sufficient to prevent significant litigation awaits to be seen.”

Also coming up today

Russia’s central bank is setting interest rates today - last month it doubled rates to 20% after the invasion of Ukraine let to sanctions and financial chaos.

The agenda

  • 10am GMT: Eurozone trade balance for January
  • 10.30am: Bank of Russia interest rate decision
  • Noon GMT: RMT demonstration against P&O sackings in Dover and Hull
  • 1pm GMT: RMT demonstration againt P&O sackings in Liverpool
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