P&O USES TAXPAYERS’ MONEY FOR SOCIAL DUMPING

RMT has responded to the Government’s increase in taxpayer support to P&O Ferries by demanding that the company withdraw plans for 1,100 redundancies mainly amongst directly employed UK seafarers in Dover and Hull. A Written Answer to Hull East MP Karl Turner (1) revealed that P&O Ferries’ payment through the taxpayer funded Critical Freight Grant had increased 36 per cent (£1.25 million) on the Hull- Rotterdam route. P&O is seeking to make redundancies amongst UK Ratings on this route whilst retaining foreign agency crew on £4.50 per hour and six month contracts. P&O Ferries redundancy plans submitted to RMT in May include 60 directly employed UK Ratings mainly in On-Board Service roles on the Bahamas registered Pride of Hull, operating on the Hull- Rotterdam route. Nearly 60 agency crew from the Philippines on £4.50 per hour and six month contracts would be retained on the Pride of Hull. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that P&O Ferries wanted to slash 1,100 jobs, mainly in Hull and Dover by the end of June so it can permanently replace local seafarers with exploited foreign crews when passenger traffic picks up. “That much is clear from P&O’s plans for the Pride of Hull, which are an insult to the people of Hull. “Taxpayer support through the Critical Freight Grant (2) has been bumped up to £14.8m and we have shown in talks with P&O that 20 per cent savings can be made without destroying seafarer jobs in Hull or Dover. “The government and the Transport Select Committee need to call P&O Ferries in and get these dangerous redundancy proposals taken off the table, as a matter of urgency,” he said. RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: july/august 2020 :: RMTnews 8 P&O USES TAXPAYERS’ MONEY FOR SOCIAL DUMPING RMT responds to government’s increase in taxpayer support to P&O Ferries by demanding withdrawal of redundancy plans Route Operator Grant Portsmouth-Santander, Brittany Ferries - £1,508,265 Portsmouth-Cherbourg, Brittany Ferries - £1,042,551 Poole-Bilbao Brittany Ferries - £370,395 Dover- Dunkerque DFDS - £3,068,766 Dover- Calais P&O - £1,173,915 DFDS - £3,770,838 Folkestone- Coquelles (Channel Tunnel) £3,431,863 Cairnryan- Larne P&O - £3,581,685 Tilbury- Zeebrugge P&O - £2,053,206 Teesport- Europoort P&O - £1,098,369 Hull- Europoort P&O - £4,779,369[1] Hull- Zeebrugge P&O - £1,842,210 Heysham- Warrenpoint Seatruck - £849,159 Rotterdam-Killingholme Stena Line - £2,018,547 Cairnryan- Belfast Stena Line - £1,077,597 Harwich- Rotterdam Stena Line - £1,822,365 Harwich- Hoek van Holland Stena Line £1,608,003 TOTAL: £35,097,103 [1] 36% increase on original contracted grant figure of £3,504,249 THE CRITICAL FREIGHT GRANT