P&O NO-SHOW OVER COVID

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2020 :: RMTnews 13 NO-SHOW: Ferry operator P&O, widely criticised for announcing 1,100 job cuts after taking advantage of the government's furlough scheme, failed to show up at a Transport Committee hearing last month on the Covid-19 crisis. RMT gave evidence to MPs of the cross-party Transport Select Committee last month during an online evidence session of their inquiry into the implications of Covid-19 for the transport industry. In a session dedicated to the maritime sector, RMT national secretary Darren Procter alerted MPs to the impact on jobs and seafarer communities in Dover and Hull from P&O Ferries’ disgraceful attack on over 600 Ratings jobs, as well as Stena Line’s shocking attack on sick pay and jobs at the start of the lock down in April. Officers’ union Nautilus International general secretary Mark Dickinson also gave evidence alongside RMT but P&O, once again, failed to provide evidence to the Transport Select Committee, despite an invitation from the Chair to do so. This is the second time during the Covid-19 pandemic that the company, owned by the government of Dubai, has failed to provide a witness to the Select Committee. On this occasion, P&O stated that as Janette Bell the Chief Executive had resigned, they had no one else who could give evidence. This was a slap in the face to the Tory Chair of the Committee, Huw Merriman MP and, more significantly, to parliament’s ability to hold to account a company owned by the Dubai state for their decisions which have thrown RMT Ratings on the dole and trashed national maritime capacity. RMT national secretary Darren Procter told MPs: “When a company in the state of Dubai is holding us to ransom … having a massive impact on the percentage of job losses in the merchant navy of a maritime nation, we have to look at what lessons can be learned”. RMT reminded MPs of the need for strong and effective enforcement of the incoming regulations extending National Minimum Wage entitlement to seafarers in UK waters which the union’s long term campaigning has secured. In response to questions from Committee member Grahame Morris MP, the national secretary set out the importance of reforms to ensure that UK seafarers and other domestic workers benefit in full from growth in the offshore wind sector and its supply chain. Developers and their contractors must be obliged to employ local labour, recognise trade unions for collective bargaining and use UK ports, including for crew changes. MPs were left in no doubt that these requirements should be mandatory and introduced by the Crown Estate at the licensing stage of an offshore wind farm. RENEWABLE ENERGY RMT is leading the debate over the reforms needed to maximise the number of jobs for UK seafarers, dockers and offshore workers from a ‘green economic recovery’. This also covers the crucial issue of a ‘Just Transition’ and the national secretary also alerted MPs to the ongoing barriers maritime and offshore workers currently face when attempting to re-train for jobs in the offshore wind and wider renewables sector. SAFETY AT SEA Maritime safety, an absolutely critical issue at the best of times, was also raised by RMT to highlight how Flags of Convenience, especially in the ferries sector had undermined the maritime response to Covid-19, exposing members and passengers to unnecessary health risks. New Shipping Minister Robert Courts MP was up in front of the Committee after the maritime unions. Labour MP for Ilford South, Sam Tarry quizzed the Minister over P&O’s attacks on UK Ratings whilst the company took millions in taxpayer support and kept on Filipino crew paid £4.50 per hour, as raised by RMT. The Minister’s response included an ambition that this union will be sure to hold him to in his new job: “I can be quite clear: what I want to see is that those who operate in and around UK waters use a UK workforce,” he said. This gives fresh momentum in the final months of the SOS 2020 campaign for increased jobs and training for UK Ratings on domestic and international shipping routes. P&O NO-SHOW OVER COVID Union gives evidence to MPs at the Transport Select Committee on the Covid crisis