Following the announcement of the P&O Ferries that it fires 800 seafarers, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he believed that the Dubai-owned British ferry company broke the law and that the government would take legal actions.
Last week, the employees of P&O Ferries were shown a pre-recovered video message, informing them that 800 people were being immediately dismissed.
For this reason, Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that he believed that P&O Ferries had broken the law by immediately firing 800 people through a video message and that the government would take legal action.
It looks to me … as though the company concerned has broken the law, and we will be taking action … and we will be encouraging workers themselves to take action under the 1996 Employment Rights Act
…he told parliament.
Following this incident, in a joint statement, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) are calling on DP World to engage in meaningful dialogue with affiliates RMT and Nautilus International about P&O Ferries’ future.
On March 22, UK MPs have voted in favour of an Opposition Day Motion condemning P&O Ferries and demanding that the government take action to improve employment protection for all workers in light of the company’s actions.
As an effort to relief the seafarers, the Seafarers’ Charity’s UK Maritime Anchor Fund is now open for applications for those impacted by the P&O Ferries redundancies. It will support seafarers through financial help, advice, relationship counselling and mental health and wellbeing support and counselling.
