Lapthorn / P&O job losses

P&O FERRIES has announced “savage” cuts in jobs, conditions and services without informing the union or the company works council of their intentions. The company even claimed to the media that RMT was being ‘consulted’ over its financial situation and over 1,200 proposed job cuts. RMT shipping secretary Steve Todd has told the company in no uncertain terms that it should consult properly with its workforce. “It is no use consulting us after a decision is taken – we need meaningful consultation before any drastic announcement is made. “We are happy to talk about efficiencies, but we remain opposed to redundancies and we draw a line in the sand at compulsory job losses,” he said. The extent of the cuts are staggering, including the withdrawal of Pride of Aquitaine and Pride of Provence and an end to all Normandy services. There are plans for the Pride of Le Havre and Pride of Portsmouth to be transferred to the French state-owned company Brittany Ferries. Under the plans staff are to be transferred to agency status and conditions are to be eroded, including pay cuts at P&O Hull of between £3,000 to £10,000. The hardest hit will be operations in Dover, Portsmouth and Hull. “The mood of our members is one of anger and disbelief at the savage scale of the proposed job cuts and the attack on their pay and conditions,” Steve said. He said that the union was taking advice from senior counsel on the legality of some of the company’s proposals. “Our message to P&O is simple: withdraw these draconian proposals and give us some meaningful consultation,” Steve said. Dover MP Gwyn Prosser also warned that any further job losses, in addition to the 600 that were announced last year, would be disastrous. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that P&O was one of the many shipowners to benefit from tonnage-tax handouts that have cost the tax-payer over £100 million to date. “It is high time that the government started asking for a commitment to retaining UK seafarers’ jobs in return,” he said. RMT News – Essential reading for today ’s transport worker RMT has called for the entire 18-vessel fleet run by R Lapthorn Co to be the first UK-registered ships to be branded with ‘flag-of-convenience’ status. The call follows July’s decision by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) that UK ships whose owners failed to apply recognised decent minimum standards of pay and conditions would be declared FoC on a ship-by-ship basis. Lapthorn operate UK- registered freight vessels between British ports and Ireland and Rotterdam, and exploit Filipino crews at pay rates of below £2 an hour. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “They use a crewing agent to find Filipinio ratings at a fixed $775 a month, way below International Labour Organisation minimums, let alone ITF minimum standards, and the agent even deducts up to $40 a month – allegedly for insurance – from each rating. “When overseas ratings are exploited so shamelessly under the Red Ensign we have no alternative but to call on the ITF to declare the vessels to be operating under a flag of convenience,” Bob said. ITF ship inspector Norrie McVicar said that his organisation had inspected several Lapthorn vessels and had proof that they were paying Filipino seafarers less than half the UK minimum wage while working in and out of UK ports. “We asked the Marine and Coastguard Agency (MCA) why they do not ensure that the minimum wage is paid, and they said that it was for the DTI and the Inland Revenue to enforce. “The MCA said it would only investigate if a complaint was received from a crew member, yet the seafarers are required – illegally – to sign an undertaking not to seek higher pay or even contact maritime authorities or unions,” Norrie said. He said that the campaign had exposed some of the worst examples of social dumping and exploitation of seafarers he had seen in UK waters. RMT shipping national secretary Steve Todd said that It was high time that the government to stop the Red Ensign being dragged further into disrepute. 5 RMT warns savage P&O cuts will be resisted RMT calls for FoC status for Lapthorn fleet ON BOARD: ITF inspectors board a Lapthorn ship