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 protestors at Dover.
Mark Dickinson, the general secretary of Nautilus International, said thatprotests 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.”
Dickinson said that Nautilus and its sister union the RMT are actively progressing legal action over the move by loss-making P&O Ferries, which is owned by Dubai-based DP World, on Thursday to sack staff, halt services and look to bring in cheaper agency crew to run its vessels.
“It is clearly illegal,” he said. “The company is duty-bound to consult with trade unions, we have have collective bargaining agreements for all the affected seafarers, for all the vessels on all the routes. We are actively progressing that.”
Dickinson said the UK’s
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