I think P&O Ferries may have gone under.

From the web
P&O Ferries has suspended all sailings ahead of a "major announcement" - but insisted it is "not going into liquidation".

A statement which appears to be from the ferry operator posted on Twitter by Hull Labour MP Karl Turner said it "will be making a major announcement today".
 
www.theguardian.com

P&O Ferries sacks all 800 crew members across entire fleet

Unions brand move ‘scandalous’ with jobs axed without notice and agency workers lined up to staff vessels
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
'The leading UK ferry operator P&O Ferries has sacked its crew across its entire fleet after stopping all its sailings on Thursday. Unions called it a “scandalous betrayal”, and said about 800 jobs at all grades had been axed with no notice, with P&O planning to use cheap agency staff to operate its ships. The operator, owned by the Dubai-based DP World, earlier told crew to return to port and await a “major announcement” in a sudden move likely to cause serious disruption to travel for passengers and freight. Unions predicted a potential standoff could develop, having instructed crew not to leave vessels, while coaches of replacement crew and security staff are already in place at Dover and Hull. ... DP World, owned by Dubai’s sovereign wealth fund, owns London Gateway port, the centrepiece of the first of the controversial freeports established by the government last year.'
www.theguardian.com

Free ports – or sleaze ports? Rishi Sunak's dream of tax-free zones about to become reality

As bids close on applications to establish free ports, the jury is out on whether they will revitalise deprived areas of the UK or become mini-tax havens
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
'Proponents say free ports can attract investment to areas that have been left woefully short, bringing jobs and prosperity to deprived regions as part of the “levelling up” agenda, helping prioritise greener industry, and breathing new life into, say, the former Redcar steelworks site, or the Grimsby docks. But others fear the move signals the creation of “mini-tax havens” and a race to the bottom on regulation, keeping revenues from councils and the Treasury to line the pockets of business and landowners, with profits sent offshore rather than reinvested in the UK. Support is found predominantly among those who voted – and campaigned – to leave the EU; backers call it a Brexit dividend enabled by the final deal. The EU has started to clamp down on the 80-odd free zones within its jurisdiction, over tax evasion, corruption and crime concerns.'
 
No doubt, the new crews will be there, just to take to the "safe" ports until sold. (You don't want redundant staff on the vessel or "breakdowns" may occur!). Nod, nod, wink, wink, say no more!
 
If what I am reading is true it is disgusting - its one thing to sack (or make redundant) x number of staff to keep the company going, but another thing to simply replace with cheaper foreign labour. Is that not a form of discrimination, I just hope that customers decide to use a better run company.
 
cambsno said:
If what I am reading is true it is disgusting - its one thing to sack (or make redundant) x number of staff to keep the company going, but another thing to simply replace with cheaper foreign labour. Is that not a form of discrimination, I just hope that customers decide to use a better run company.
Click to expand...
Yes I agree it’s awful shouldn’t be allowed in a decent society
 
I wonder if there's any Russian investment in P&O... 40% is what I've seen somewhere but I was flicking through so don't remember where I saw it.
 
This is their FB post

Today we've announced changes to provide a better service to our customers. While we make these changes, many of our services will not be running over the next few days.

How is this going to improve the service?

I know its only mainly FB warriors but they are getting a real hammering on social media!
 
I wonder about the legality, but suspect that because the company is foreign-owned and I suspect the ships are foreign-registered, they can pretty much do what they like. Seafaring is a mugs game these days, I'm told by a number of ex-mariners.
 
andya700 said:
Staff laid off and services/operations suspended.

www.kentonline.co.uk

Exclusive: Inside zoom call where P&O staff redundancies revealed

KentOnline has seen the zoom call in which P&O staff were told they would all be losing their jobs after the company suffered losses of up to £200m.
www.kentonline.co.uk www.kentonline.co.uk
Click to expand...

Retune said:
www.theguardian.com

P&O Ferries sacks all 800 crew members across entire fleet

Unions brand move ‘scandalous’ with jobs axed without notice and agency workers lined up to staff vessels
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
'The leading UK ferry operator P&O Ferries has sacked its crew across its entire fleet after stopping all its sailings on Thursday. Unions called it a “scandalous betrayal”, and said about 800 jobs at all grades had been axed with no notice, with P&O planning to use cheap agency staff to operate its ships. The operator, owned by the Dubai-based DP World, earlier told crew to return to port and await a “major announcement” in a sudden move likely to cause serious disruption to travel for passengers and freight. Unions predicted a potential standoff could develop, having instructed crew not to leave vessels, while coaches of replacement crew and security staff are already in place at Dover and Hull. ... DP World, owned by Dubai’s sovereign wealth fund, owns London Gateway port, the centrepiece of the first of the controversial freeports established by the government last year.'
www.theguardian.com

Free ports – or sleaze ports? Rishi Sunak's dream of tax-free zones about to become reality

As bids close on applications to establish free ports, the jury is out on whether they will revitalise deprived areas of the UK or become mini-tax havens
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
'Proponents say free ports can attract investment to areas that have been left woefully short, bringing jobs and prosperity to deprived regions as part of the “levelling up” agenda, helping prioritise greener industry, and breathing new life into, say, the former Redcar steelworks site, or the Grimsby docks. But others fear the move signals the creation of “mini-tax havens” and a race to the bottom on regulation, keeping revenues from councils and the Treasury to line the pockets of business and landowners, with profits sent offshore rather than reinvested in the UK. Support is found predominantly among those who voted – and campaigned – to leave the EU; backers call it a Brexit dividend enabled by the final deal. The EU has started to clamp down on the 80-odd free zones within its jurisdiction, over tax evasion, corruption and crime concerns.'
Click to expand...
All part of the great levelling "up" agenda.
 
I’m not sure if Brexit made any difference or not but I hope people can see now why those in power wanted it , so we can race to the bottom for wages and conditions for ordinary people
I’m glad I’ve finished working now and am out of it but I do worry about where we are going in this country
 
LCPete said:
I’m not sure if Brexit made any difference or not but I hope people can see now why those in power wanted it , so we can race to the bottom for wages and conditions for ordinary people
I’m glad I’ve finished working now and am out of it but I do worry about where we are going in this country
Click to expand...
It isn't just the UK, it affected Ireland back in 2005, when it was discovered Filipina staff onboard Irish Ferries were being paid way below the minimum wage.

www.independent.ie

Irish Ferries takes blame for Filipina's 'slave wages'

IRISH Ferries yesterday admitted it was to blame for the situation in which a Filipina hairdresser on board one of its ships was paid just ?1 an hour to work 12-hour shifts seven days a week.
www.independent.ie www.independent.ie
 
LCPete said:
I’m not sure if Brexit made any difference or not but I hope people can see now why those in power wanted it , so we can race to the bottom for wages and conditions for ordinary people
I’m glad I’ve finished working now and am out of it but I do worry about where we are going in this country
Click to expand...

Zero hours were introduced by the Blair government. As a lifelong Labour supporter I couldn't believe what was happening, I warned that we were on a "race to the bottom" with wages and it happened. At my wife's last Biotech firm, there were Eastern European scientists working for £16K a year, that is very little above NMW.
 
cambsno said:
Could they not have done that pre-Brit though? What has actually changed which means they can do this now?
Click to expand...
They probably can't legally do it now, but maybe they just intend to pay the fines and carry on regardless:
www.theguardian.com

What are the legal implications of P&O Ferries sacking 800 staff?

Employment lawyers say the company could face claims for unfair dismissal
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
What they'll be able to do in their poorly regulated 'Freeports', and what the Brexit ultras plan for the rest of us in 'unchained' Britain is another matter.
 
It's muddy water. The Pride of Hull is registered in the Bahamas, I'm sure the rest of the fleet is likewise registered under flags of convenience. If the crew are employed on maritime "articles", there's not much that can be done with respect to UK law.
 
can't blame them really , its so expensive now to employ UK people what with forced pension payments , increase in NI payments also a lot of the people are agency workers and now outside IR35 (another HMRC change) another victim of brexit where it is now so much cheaper to run these ships from the EU , well done who voted us to leave the EU.
 
Mr Bump said:
can't blame them really , its so expensive now to employ UK people what with forced pension payments , increase in NI payments also a lot of the people are agency workers and now outside IR35 (another HMRC change) another victim of brexit where it is now so much cheaper to run these ships from the EU , well done who voted us to leave the EU.
Click to expand...

Those who voted for Brexit probably had no idea about any of this. Yes, I know you can say that they should have been better informed, but they weren't. It was a campaign based on hopes and fears. It appealed to the heart, rather than the head. The whole thing was a bit of a joke, and to be honest I don't think they ever expected to win.
 
Plain Nev said:
Those who voted for Brexit probably had no idea about any of this. Yes, I know you can say that they should have been better informed, but they weren't. It was a campaign based on hopes and fears. It appealed to the heart, rather than the head. The whole thing was a bit of a joke, and to be honest I don't think they ever expected to win.
Click to expand...

never the less the people who voted leave have all these issues firmly planted on there door step and they need to take that on board.
 
Retune said:
They probably can't legally do it now, but maybe they just intend to pay the fines and carry on regardless:
www.theguardian.com

What are the legal implications of P&O Ferries sacking 800 staff?

Employment lawyers say the company could face claims for unfair dismissal
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
What they'll be able to do in their poorly regulated 'Freeports', and what the Brexit ultras plan for the rest of us in 'unchained' Britain is another matter.
Click to expand...

P and O's parent company DP World are one of the main backers of the UK Freeport scheme so I think this is an insight of what's to come.
 
Plain Nev said:
Those who voted for Brexit probably had no idea about any of this. Yes, I know you can say that they should have been better informed, but they weren't. It was a campaign based on hopes and fears. It appealed to the heart, rather than the head. The whole thing was a bit of a joke, and to be honest I don't think they ever expected to win.
Click to expand...
It wasn't a joke to the Russians, who gleefully helped the Leave campaign.
 
Mr Bump said:
can't blame them really , its so expensive now to employ UK people what with forced pension payments , increase in NI payments also a lot of the people are agency workers and now outside IR35 (another HMRC change) another victim of brexit where it is now so much cheaper to run these ships from the EU , well done who voted us to leave the EU.
Click to expand...

So, you think it is OK to employ foreign workers at below the going rate for any job, something which has forced down wages across many sectors and made it more difficult for workers born in this country to make a living, but has enabled business owners to reap the rewards of an endless cheap supply of human resources?
I take it you are retired so don't have to worry about this situation?
 
andya700 said:
So, you think it is OK to employ foreign workers at below the going rate for any job, something which has forced down wages across many sectors and made it more difficult for workers born in this country to make a living, but has enabled business owners to reap the rewards of an endless cheap supply of human resources?
I take it you are retired so don't have to worry about this situation?
Click to expand...
It’s not the owners driving this, it’s the greedy customer who wants everything as cheap as possible
 
andyscott said:
It’s not the owners driving this, it’s the greedy customer who wants everything as cheap as possible
Click to expand...
It’s not because of business costs the parent company are making huge profits it seems to be the way things are going we seem to be going back to the Victorian era
 
andyscott said:
It’s not the owners driving this, it’s the greedy customer who wants everything as cheap as possible
Click to expand...

I think you are blaming the customers when you should be blaming the greedy business owners and shareholders, it is pure greed. We have the largest gap between rich and poor since the Dickensian era.
 
andya700 said:
I think you are blaming the customers when you should be blaming the greedy business owners and shareholders, it is pure greed. We have the largest gap between rich and poor since the Dickensian era.
Click to expand...
Yes that what I was trying to say
 
The merchant navy has been forever the victim of greedy shipowners and operators, with crews having low pay and often awful conditions; add to that the desire for the cheapest solutions by customers, and asset-stripping plus short termism in the board room, and you have this situation.
 
andyscott said:
It’s not the owners driving this, it’s the greedy customer who wants everything as cheap as possible
Click to expand...
I think you have misspoken there.

The customers have been conditioned to want everything as cheap as possible by the greedy owners of businesses and media.
 
Plain Nev said:
Those who voted for Brexit probably had no idea about any of this. Yes, I know you can say that they should have been better informed, but they weren't. It was a campaign based on hopes and fears. It appealed to the heart, rather than the head. The whole thing was a bit of a joke, and to be honest I don't think they ever expected to win.
Click to expand...

You are correct about people who voted for Brexit having no idea about this(and many other aspects of leaving the EU). Unfortunately the Remain campaign was totally pathetic is letting people know what could happen if we left the EU. The leave campaign told us how everything would be so good if we left the EU, the Remain campaign said little more than, "Its better to be in a club than outside it"

Dave
 
Pound Coin said:
I think you have misspoken there.

The customers have been conditioned to want everything as cheap as possible by the greedy owners of businesses and media.
Click to expand...
Disagree, most want cheap. Society is greedy and customers are the greediest part of the chain.
 
Pound Coin said:
I think you have misspoken there.

The customers have been conditioned to want everything as cheap as possible by the greedy owners of businesses and media.
Click to expand...

Correct, one of the earliest examples of this which everyone knows about is sliced bread and the speed with which it is produced - CBP Chorleywood Bread Process. This wasn't invented by the public, it was industry produced to maximise profits. It also reduced "human resources" - workers.

Chorleywood bread process - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
andyscott said:
Disagree, most want cheap. Society is greedy and customers are the greediest part of the chain.
Click to expand...
Businesses are greedy, by definition. Boards HAVE to think of their shareholders first.

Customers are consumers of what businesses feed them.
 
Pound Coin said:
It wasn't a joke to the Russians, who gleefully helped the Leave campaign.
Click to expand...

I think it's possible. But unfortunately we don't know that with any certainty.

Tringa said:
You are correct about people who voted for Brexit having no idea about this(and many other aspects of leaving the EU). Unfortunately the Remain campaign was totally pathetic is letting people know what could happen if we left the EU. The leave campaign told us how everything would be so good if we left the EU, the Remain campaign said little more than, "Its better to be in a club than outside it"

Dave
Click to expand...

You're right. I always think that Leave didn't so much win the campaign as Remain lost it.
 
andya700 said:
Correct, one of the earliest examples of this which everyone knows about is sliced bread and the speed with which it is produced - CBP Chorleywood Bread Process. This wasn't invented by the public, it was industry produced to maximise profits. It also reduced "human resources" - workers.

Chorleywood bread process - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
Click to expand...
It certainly wasn't invented to maximise the taste! This stuff is to bread what Smash is to mashed potatoes.
 
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