REMEMBERING THE P&O STRIKE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2018 :: RMTnews 27 The road to the industrial dispute began in January 1987 when P&O plc took over the European Ferry Operators Townsend Thorenson. Two months later the Ferry 'Herald of Free Enterprise' overturned in the Belgium Port of Zeebrugge and 191 passengers and crew members lost their lives. Yet the new owners P&O pushed on with trying to maximise profits by cutting jobs, lengthening the remaining workers hours and cutting their pay. In December 1987 the company told the National Union of Seamen (NUS) that it intended to reduce the annual wage bill of £35 million by £6 million by cutting 500 out of 2,300 jobs and reducing earnings by an average of £25 a week. It would also make seafarers work an extra one month a year and impose, in some cases, a work rota where some people would be working for 72 hours continuously. The 2,300 seafarers refused to accept these ultimatums, voted to strike and stopped work on February 6 1988 - Many felt betrayed by a company to which some had literally given their lives, workers also asked why a company which had just announced record profits, including £51.7 million from its European Ferries Group, needed to act in such a fashion. Mass picketing by the seafarers, and some supporters had some success and a number of lorries booked on rival ferry operator Sealink were 'turned back’. However, the deployment of very large numbers of police soon assisted the scab lorry and bus drivers to break the lines. However the NUS estimated that the financial damage caused to the company by the dispute was over £40 million. It was a sum that P&O chairman, supporter of the Conservative Party and personal friend of Margaret Thatcher, Sir Jeffrey Sterling was willing to spend in breaking the seafarers’ organisation and working class resistance. As a result the government requisitioned the union's funds and the strikers were finally forced to return to work in June 1989 while Lord Sterling was knighted. In 1990 the National Union of Seamen amalgamated with the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) to become the National Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT). OUR HISTORY REMEMBERING THE P&O STRIKE Thirty years ago over 2,000 seafarers were sacked after being on strike for over two months SOLIDARITY; Tony Benn addresses strikers