Searchable article text
RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june bulletin 3 2020 :: RMTnews
7
P&O Ferries has announced
1,100 job losses on P&O’s key
routes from Dover and Hull to
the continent in an appalling
betrayal of the work force.
“This is a kick in the teeth for
P&O seafarers who have
maintained key supply lines to
the UK during the Covid -19
pandemic and P&O clearly needs
to be taken in-house.
“We simply cannot afford to
have the UK’s ability to be
supported by key shipping
services being held to ransom by
a corporate foreign owner.
“The UK government needs to
act in the national interest and
take public control of this vital
service or at the very least take
a significant public stake.
"What is utterly shameful is
P&O have been kept afloat by
our members and the taxpayer
whilst their owners have been
paying out hundreds of millions
in dividends in Dubai and
cooking up plans to
permanently replace UK
seafarers with low cost seafarers
from thousands of miles away.
"This is an attack on British
seafarers, crew and the biggest
fear is that these jobs will never
return to Dover or Hull. But you
can guarantee that P&O ferries
will still be running passenger
ferry services from those ports
to protect their owner’s profits
at the country’s expense.
"We are seeking urgent talks
with the company and will fight
tooth and nail against these job
losses and we are calling on the
government to step in now and
nationalise these services to
protect jobs and the UK’s
maritime interests,” he said.
The British taxpayer is
already paying out millions
through the Coronavirus Job
Retention Scheme to meet 80
per cent of the wages of 1,400
key workers – seafarers, dockers
and other staff – at P&O Ferries.
The UK government has also
provided £35 million in support
to six ferry companies,
including P&O Ferries operating
critical freight routes during the
Coronavirus pandemic.
The union said that
government needs to remember
that, when dishing out public
money to private ferry
companies during the pandemic,
no freight moves without
seafarers.
“We are extremely concerned
that this money is not available
on the critical Holyhead-Dublin
route and that there are no
conditions attached that will
protect seafarer jobs from the
likes of P&O Ferries’ owners in
Dubai who are using public
funds to pursue mass
redundancies in Dover and Hull
now and cheaper foreign crews
replacing UK seafarers when
passenger demand returns.
“We need action now to
protect our seafarers’ jobs for
the long term or the government
will have failed to protect these
strategically vital jobs in
working class communities.
“Furlough and other public
support to the ferries sector is
welcome in the short term but
the UK government must take
steps now to secure employment
of UK seafarers and strategic
control in the maritime supply
chain,” said Mick Cash.
Since 2006 P&O has been
owned by Dubai-based DP
World, which in turn is mainly
owned by the government of
Dubai. DP World recently paid a
£270 million dividend to its
shareholders – at the same time
it was demanding another £150
million from the British
taxpayer to keep its operation
going.
C
ondor ferries is slashing
seafarer jobs claiming it is
due to the impact coronavirus
while stating that it hopes to
start passenger sailings as early
as June.
Many of the ferry
company's employees have
been kept on due to the
financial support for businesses
made available by both the
States of Guernsey and
Government of Jersey.
Seafarers - people who
actually work on the ferries,
operating and maintaining the
ship - do not fall into the
scheme, and Condor claims that
it cannot continue to employ
them.
The UK government has also
just given millions to Condor’s
new owner, Brittany Ferries as
part of the £35 million freight
ferries package.
RMT general secretary Mick
Cash said that the very next
day after receiving the money
Condor was sizing up local
seafarers for the chop and
replacing them with cheaper
foreign seafarers further down
the line when Covid-19 recedes
and passengers return.
“We urge Brittany Ferries
and Condor to get round the
negotiating table with RMT so
that we can work on furlough
and other measures to protect
jobs and support lifeline
Channel Island services.
“Every week we clap key
workers’ in the fight against
Coronavirus but if the
government doesn’t wake up to
the growing threat to UK
seafarers’ jobs from employers
making bad decisions then
another nail will be driven into
the coffin of the British
seafarer,” he said.
SAVE P&O JOBS, SAVE
BRITAIN’S FERRIES
Union calls for P&O Ferries to be nationalised following over 1,000 job cuts
SOCIAL DUMPING AT CONDOR CHANNEL ISLANDS FERRIES
SAVE P&O JOBS, SAVE BRITAIN’S FERRIES
•
P&O is using Covid-19 to cut 1,100 UK jobs, including over
900 seafarers on vital ferry services from Dover and Hull
•
UK seafarers would be replaced with foreign crews paid as
little as £2 per hour when passenger traffic returns
•
Dubai-based owners, DP World made £1.3 billion profit last
year and paid a £270m dividend during the pandemic
•
Over 11 million ferry passengers used Dover and Hull in
2019. P&O jobs cuts would devastate these local economies
•
P&O has received an estimated £25 million and continuing
tax relief from the UK Government during this pandemic -
without any commitment to protect UK seafarers’ jobs