Rustom Tata, an employer lawyer and chairman of law firm DMH Stallard, said that it looked like P&O Ferries was trying to avoid renegotiating pay with its workers and replace them with agency staff.A Dubai-owned British ferry company fired 800 seafarers on Thursday, bringing chaos to some of the country’s biggest ports and prompting union officials to urge the workers to occupy their ships.
“This is not sustainable. Our survival is dependent on making swift and significant changes now,” the spokesperson added. Conservative lawmaker Huw Merriman, who chairs a transportation committee in parliament, called the mass firing “appalling” and questioned its legality. The company told crew on Thursday to disembark passengers and remove cargo from their vessels, according to a note to staff shared by UK lawmaker Karl Turner on Twitter. The company said in the note that it expected “serious disruption” at ports as a result.
Turner, who represents the city of Hull in northern England, said that an RMT officer on board ship The Pride of Hull told him that at least 72 crew members were refusing to disembark. Turner said he had visited the King George Dock, where the ship is located, and saw two buses of agency workers waiting to board as well as two minibuses of security guards.
“This could fast turn into a severe reputational headache for the company, with a big union fight looming ahead,” Streeter said.
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