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A backlash against P&O Ferries is growing after the firm sacked 800 staff without giving them any notice.
The government said it would review its contracts with P&O Ferries after it fired its employees, planning to replace them with cheaper agency staff.
Unions hit out against the dismissal, saying it marked a "dark day" in the shipping industry.
P&O said it was a "tough" decision but it would "not be a viable business" without the changes.
A chorus of cross-party MPs, however, described P&O Ferries' actions as "callous" and "disgraceful".
Nearly a quarter of P&O Ferries' staff were told via a video message on Thursday that it was their "final day of employment".
The RMT union said it was one of the "most shameful acts in the history of British industrial relations". There are protests planned on Friday across the ports of Dover, Liverpool, Hull and Larne.
P&O Ferries worker Andrew Smith said he felt "utter dismay" after working for the company for 22 years.
"It's our lives," he said. "It's how our families have grown up, knowing that this is what we do, and it's just been turned on its head within a matter of hours."
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Mark Dickinson, general secretary of the maritime trade union Nautilus, told the BBC: "It's absolutely ripped the guts out of everybody."
Having worked in the sector for 40 years, he added: "It is a dark day in the shipping industry.
"I've seen some curveballs and some shocking developments over that time... but for a company to treat the legal process in such an underhand and callous way has shocked me."
In addition to taking part in demonstrations on Friday, both the RMT union and Nautilus are seeking legal advice on the dismissal.
Beth Hale, partner at employment law firm CM Murray, said P&O Ferries may well have breached employment law.
She told the BBC's Today programme that it should have consulted with unions and staff about potential dismissals and notified the government that hundreds of jobs were at risk.
"It's potentially an enormous breach, but they purport to be paying their way out of it," she added.
Sacked staff said the video message had referred to a "generous severance package" being offered, but no details were given.
'The action of thugs'
Labour shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh pointed out that there were images circulating online, reportedly showing "handcuff-trained security, some wearing balaclavas, marching British crew off their ships.
"It is beneath contempt. The action of thugs," she said.
Maritime minister Robert Courts said he was "frankly angry at the way workers have been treated". He told the House of Commons P&O Ferries' actions were "wholly unacceptable".
"Reports of workers being given zero notice and escorted off their ships with immediate effect while being told cheaper alternatives would take up their roles, shows the insensitive nature by which P&O approached this issue," he said.
He added that he did not expect critical goods and services to be hit by the sudden drop in capacity, but travellers "should expect some disruption over the coming days".
The company has said services are unable to run over the next few days.
Former transport minister Sir John Hayes also criticised the "capricious, careless, callous" decision by P&O Ferries, and suggested the government should "recover any monies granted to P&O during the pandemic" in a bid to reverse it.
P&O Ferries claimed almost £15m in government grants in 2020, which included furlough payments for its employees.
Sir John added: "Don't let anyone tell me this is the free market. The free market put little girls in factories and boys down mines, and both at risk on the high seas; we thought those dark days had gone - P&O are either too dim to see that or too dastardly to know it."
P&O Ferries said on Thursday that the decision to lay-off 800 workers was "tough" but said the business would not be viable without "making swift and significant changes now".
It said: "We have made a £100m loss year-on-year, which has been covered by our parent DP World. This is not sustainable. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries."
P&O Ferries is one of the UK's leading ferry companies, carrying more than 10 million passengers a year before the pandemic and about 15% of all freight cargo in and out of the UK.
P&O was bought by DP World, the multi-national ports and logistics company based in Dubai in 2019. At the time of purchase, its chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem described it as a "strong, recognisable brand".
It paid a £270m dividend to shareholders in 2020.
However, like many transport operators, it saw demand slump in the pandemic.
Just a couple of months after the dividends announcement, it said it would cut 1,100 jobs after a downturn in bookings.
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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiLGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL2J1c2luZXNzLTYwNzg5NjEy0gEwaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYnVzaW5lc3MtNjA3ODk2MTIuYW1w?oc=5
2022-03-18 07:59:38Z
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