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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may bulletin 2 2020 :: RMTnews 14 O ver 600 Stena Line staff from its 2000 plus strong seafarer, docker and port service workforce in the UK and Ireland will be furloughed and a further 150 redundancies will be sought, despite a lack of certainty over seafarer access to the UK government's Coronavirus Job Retention Schemes. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that another major employer of UK seafarers was reacting to flat lining demand by gambling with key workers' jobs and future at a time of national crisis. “Redundancies are a serious development and must not be used to avoid other alternatives that would save jobs. We seek further discussions on that as part of the mandatory consultation process. “Dock and port workers are eligible for state support but we cannot agree to 'furlough' for our seafarers when the government guidance does not give UK seafarers at Stena Line or other major employers clarity on eligibility. “The furlough scheme will be retrospective so Stena Line should commit to covering 100 per cent of wages for everyone affected by this announcement, as well as reinstating the company sick pay scheme for all employees,” he said. R MT has reacted with fury at P&O Ferries proposals for restructuring the business launched during the Coronavirus pandemic. In a consultation document issued to RMT, the union organising Seafarer Ratings on P&O Ferries’ Irish Sea, North Sea and Dover-Calais fleet, the company proposes a series of changes to Ratings’ terms and conditions, including pay cuts, replacement of UK seafarers with foreign crew, no strike clauses, statutory redundancy, cuts to the sick pay scheme, scrapping benefits for long service, leave restrictions. The company is attempting to apply all re-negotiated crewing and terms and conditions including on new ferries they have ordered from China that were due for delivery in 2023 and 2024. P&O Ferries Limited’s ultimate owner is the global corporation, DP World, based in the United Arab Emirates. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that threatening permanent cuts to seafarers jobs, pay and conditions and the maritime supply chain at a time of national crisis sent a message of utter contempt to RMT members and the country as a whole. “Job cuts, pay cuts, taking annual leave in rest periods, replacing UK seafarers with cheaper foreign crews, statutory redundancy, cuts to sick pay – it’s all of the things that P&O Ferries have always wanted to do to our members and the UK economy. “To use the temporary market conditions created by the Coronavirus to attack our members, the maritime workers this country will always need, is nothing short of contemptuous and the Government need to step in here to provide more guarantees to protect British seafarers’ jobs and apprenticeships for the future. “P&O Ferries say that no one is going to bail them out. Maybe they should go back to their corporate masters at DP World in Dubai who will pay a $332m dividend to private shareholders on 29 April. That would easily cover the £28.4m P&O Ferries want to rip out of the hands of my hard working members and their families. “If P&O think that holding a gun to our members’ heads whilst sprinting towards the cliff edge is ‘consultation,’ then they’ve got another thing coming,” he said. P&O LAUNCHES ALL-OUT ASSAULT ON JOBS, PAY AND WORKING CONDITIONS STENA LINE ISSUES REDUNDANCIES