Bender Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 Not sure what the business model is but sacking pretty much everyone can't do much for image 1 Quote
Stu Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 14 minutes ago, Bender said: Not sure what the business model is but sacking pretty much everyone can't do much for image Well it certainly makes you wonder if you should use them again! 1 Quote
MikeHorton Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 I used Irish ferries last year. I think most their staff were some form of temps the ship on the way back was falling apart and all the signs in Greek it was some old boat they had leased. I'd imagine p&o are going that way too. Some issue with unions and pay dispute? Cadbury went a similar way when mondelez took over, shut down the Bristol plant and most the workers at Bournville are agency now Quote
Yorky Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 33 minutes ago, Stu said: Well it certainly makes you wonder if you should use them again! Too late, I'm already booked for June!! 1 Quote
S-Westerly Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 P&O are using a tried and tested ship owners system. Back in the 80's all the so-called oil majors made all their officers redundant then re-hired them through an agency with considerably less good conditions. The actual monthly cash didn't change much but all the extras disappeared and I suspect that's what P&O are doing. What we found back then was the senior officers mostly liked it as they got large redundancies and in most cases their pensions too. Then they came back doing the same job with a salary on top of all their loot. The first thing us low lives lost was any kind of pension. On ferries they must have got some of the Masters on side as these are the guys with the pilotage exemptions and you don't get those by doing an online course. Most of the rest of the crew though are probably replaceable by cheaper crews from somewhere else. Not a good look from P&O though as a lot of the folks on those ships will live in Dover or whatever port the ship runs from and it would have a knock on effect. Also if the unions can mobilise support from terminal staff it could be difficult for the ships to operate. 2 Quote
NeilM Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 Absolutely shocking. Just watching an interview on look north with one of the Hull MPs. Quote
Bender Posted March 17, 2022 Author Posted March 17, 2022 Just now, NeilM said: Absolutely shocking. Just watching an interview on look north with one of the Hull MPs. Agree, they know they've broken employment regulations so they have already added compo into the settlement. Quote
NeilM Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 Just now, Bender said: Agree, they know they've broken employment regulations so they have already added compo into the settlement. Over Zoom!!!! Quote
MikeHorton Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 If people haven't got e ough to contend with. Cost of living in the South East must be high, inflation, unemployment terrible Quote
S-Westerly Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 Don't know if unemployment is that high but it's irrelevant anyway. The behaviour of p&o is reprehensible. The hotel staff may be able to find jobs ashore as there's a desperate shortage in my neck of the woods anyway. The engineers and officers though may struggle unless they get re-hired through an agency which is what I suspect the company is after. You do of course generate an awful lot of ill will in your employees when you pull this trick. Deservedly so as well. 1 Quote
Essem Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 Boris was in Saudi, a very different country to UAE where the company which owns P&O are based. 1 Quote
Bender Posted March 17, 2022 Author Posted March 17, 2022 57 minutes ago, Essem said: Boris was in Saudi, a very different country to UAE where the company which owns P&O are based. Never let facts get in the way of a good story. Quote
Fozzie Posted March 18, 2022 Posted March 18, 2022 Nothing says "we're sure we can do this legally" like sacking hundreds of staff, and trying to pay them off... Hope they get dragged through court. Hopefully their boss will be able to do it in person, and not via a video. 1 Quote
Bender Posted March 18, 2022 Author Posted March 18, 2022 They are hoping the courts would offer less than they have offered and are probably fine with a nice fine. Apparently they wanted 140odd million from gov during first lockdown which was refused on grounds that they had paid out over 200m in dividends. 1 Quote
Gerontious Posted March 18, 2022 Posted March 18, 2022 What they have done is illegal in various other eu countries, but we can rely on the tories to refuse to legislate against this kind of behaviour. Quote
S-Westerly Posted March 19, 2022 Posted March 19, 2022 I'm not so sure about that as government ministers have already come out and said its probably illegal so casting an industrial dispute in the light of Brext is disingenuous to say the least. Particularly as all P & O routes except for the one to Larne end in an EU country so are therefore subject to EU rules. Also I believe that at least some of the agency crew being used to replace the current crew are from Lithuania which is also in the EU. Quote
Guest Posted March 19, 2022 Posted March 19, 2022 9 hours ago, Gerontious said: What they have done is illegal in various other eu countries, but we can rely on the tories to refuse to legislate against this kind of behaviour. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/natalie-elphicke-dover-government-p-o-ferries-louise-haigh-b2039120.html Well the Dover mp voted against a bill to curb fire and rehire. Quote
KiwiBob Posted March 19, 2022 Posted March 19, 2022 9 minutes ago, S-Westerly said: I'm not so sure about that as government ministers have already come out and said its probably illegal so casting an industrial dispute in the light of Brext is disingenuous to say the least. Particularly as all P & O routes except for the one to Larne end in an EU country so are therefore subject to EU rules. Also I believe that at least some of the agency crew being used to replace the current crew are from Lithuania which is also in the EU. Don't worry!... Good news is that Kwasi Kwarteng and Grant Shapps have both sent letters to P&O Chairman Robert Woods! The bad news is that Woods resigned from P&O in December!... Incompetent or what! 1 Quote
S-Westerly Posted March 19, 2022 Posted March 19, 2022 (edited) 10 minutes ago, goat said: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/natalie-elphicke-dover-government-p-o-ferries-louise-haigh-b2039120.html She also accused p&o of stabbing them in the back having taken millions of pounds from the government. I'd not say she was in favour of their action in any way. As to the RMT my own limited interaction with them is such that so far as their leaders go I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire. Edited March 19, 2022 by S-Westerly Quote
billy sugger Posted March 19, 2022 Posted March 19, 2022 I read yesterday that they were turned down for a £140 million Covid relief package because they had just paid out £200 million in dividends. I'm sure someone on here will come up with a new meaning for P+O 2 Quote
Trooper74 Posted March 19, 2022 Posted March 19, 2022 (edited) Once upon a time on a planet far away .... I interviewed for and got a job as the production manager of a steel works in Doncaster ... 2 weeks later i turned up on the Monday, my first day, to find the owners had sacked the ENTIRE workforce on the Friday .... the MD give a me an hourly paid and staff list and suggested i phone around and employ anyone that would come back on the new terms and conditions ....and at the end of the week fill the gaps with new folk ..... All the staff came back ... everyone ... Of the hourly paid staff, 90% of the workforce, .. many came back ..... except the welders .... 50% of the 90% where welders ... We bent steel and welded lugs onto it ... forks for fork lift trucks ..... No welders, no forks.. The welders walked across the road to Montracon and Wabtec and started the same day on more money .. It cost my company a fortune to get them back ... in the end not a penny was saved ... 2 years later i was sacked without warning ... the Directors had put a piecework system in place for the hourly paid and with my good management the productivity and profitability shot up ... The MD was not happy (!!!) and told me to reign in the workforce .. i refused .. Went into work Wednesday morning, called to the Finance Directors office ... given a cheque for 12 months salary and told to fec off .... The story is ... mass sackings save nothing in the long run ...... And i had 6 months off having fun and frolics with the family before going back to work ... yes .. they paid me 6 months gardening leave PLUS the 12 months salary ... Result !!!!! Edited March 19, 2022 by Trooper74 5 Quote
S-Westerly Posted March 20, 2022 Posted March 20, 2022 I reckon p&o have f**ked themselves. What they're doing is undoubtedly morally wrong, probably legally wrong and possibly will screw them over commercially. No sympathy at all for the company. My union has got its members to sign an online petition which I duly have despite knowing it'll have as much effect as a fart in a thunderstorm. 2 Quote
onesea Posted March 20, 2022 Posted March 20, 2022 6 hours ago, S-Westerly said: I reckon p&o have f**ked themselves. What they're doing is undoubtedly morally wrong, probably legally wrong and possibly will screw them over commercially. No sympathy at all for the company. My union has got its members to sign an online petition which I duly have despite knowing it'll have as much effect as a fart in a thunderstorm. RMT or Numast/ Nautilus have long been as much use as…. For seafarers. Sadly long has it been the way for those that work at sea, in demand then dumped it’s a centuries old thing… Ships have always picked up cheap labour where they can find it. Just over the decades it’s become cheaper to bring them to the shop than pick them up enroute. P&O is just done it more publicly and directly than most.. 1 Quote
S-Westerly Posted March 20, 2022 Posted March 20, 2022 Only reason I'm in the union is for my protection. God forbid I'm ever in a bad incident which ends in court I'll get a lawyer who is on my case rather than the owners who will chuck me under the bus if it saves their skin. Quote
MikeHorton Posted March 20, 2022 Posted March 20, 2022 2 hours ago, S-Westerly said: Only reason I'm in the union is for my protection. God forbid I'm ever in a bad incident which ends in court I'll get a lawyer who is on my case rather than the owners who will chuck me under the bus if it saves their skin. I think that's the same for any union/federation now. I find most that are reps only do it for their own gain etc 1 Quote
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