UNIONS ACT AGAINST P&O SACKINGS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2022 :: RMTnews 18 The UK government is being taken to task over its lax labour laws which are ‘unenforceable’ by the country’s workers. Unions representing the 800 seafarers who were illegally fired by P&O Ferries and their global federation have filed a complaint at the UN’s International Labour Organisation calling on its Director General, Guy Ryder, to urgently intervene. The unions argue that the UK government’s failure to enforce relevant labour laws and punitive sanctions to ensure compliance following P&O Ferries’ illegal firing of seafarers without consultation, was a serious violation of the ILO’s principles concerning the freedom of association and collective bargaining. The government has also contravened international treaties the UK is bound by. A number of international trade union bodies including the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) consider the UK has failed to abide by internationally recognised labour standards. “P&O Ferries’ CEO has admitted the company behaved illegally when it fired 800 seafarers without warning in March, and he has told parliament he would do the same again,” said ITF general secretary Stephen Cotton. “P&O Ferries has run roughshod over these workers’ right to freedom of association and to collective bargaining. “That’s the consequence of this company blatantly ignoring their legal requirement to consult with the seafarers and their unions, before it sacked them en- masse over Zoom, escorted them off the ships with handcuff-trained security guards and replaced them with a non-unionised workforce on just a fraction of the pay. “P&O Ferries ‘priced in’ breaking the law and then set about blackmailing the seafarers with gag-order packages worth more than if the workers took P&O to court and won a statutory settlement, buying their legal silence and snuffing out their rights,” he said. The ITF said that the UK government needed to allow unions and workers to seek injunctive relief from courts which could pause controversial firings and even reverse sackings until an employer conducts the proper consultation. Until the UK makes these changes to its laws, the country is in violation of ILO Conventions 87 and 98. ILO C98 obliges the country to ‘encourage and promote’ collective bargaining machinery, stipulating that all ‘workers shall enjoy adequate protection against acts of anti- union discrimination’. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that gangster capitalists like P&O were trashing the law and maritime safety standards in order to make a quick buck. “This cannot be tolerated. Employers like P&O, hell-bent on attacking workers’ rights to profit their owners in Dubai, must face effective legal consequences at ILO level,” he said. Changes to the law unions want to see: · Allow unions to apply for an injunction to prohibit illegal dismissals from taking effect · Introduce legislation to establish sector-wide collective bargaining between unions and employers in respect of all ferries serving ports in the UK · Remove the prohibition on secondary industrial action where the employer in dispute has failed to fulfil a statutory obligation to consult unions Make it a criminal offence for a company and its directors to fail to consult the unions, punishable by unlimited fines. RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2022 :: RMTnews UNIONS ACT AGAINST P&O SACKINGS UK government taken to United Nations over ‘unenforceable’ laws failing to protect workers