{"id":2943,"date":"2022-03-17T16:47:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T16:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worabia.com\/news\/world-news\/uk\/2943\/"},"modified":"2022-03-17T16:47:10","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T16:47:10","slug":"po-ferries-weve-been-abandoned-by-the-company-say-sacked-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worabia.com\/news\/world-news\/uk\/2943\/","title":{"rendered":"P&#038;O Ferries: &#8216;We&#8217;ve been abandoned by the company&#8217;, say sacked staff"},"content":{"rendered":"<div >\n<p ><b >P&#038;O Ferries shipping staff received a video message that 800 of them would be fired immediately when their ships returned to port.  The decision has sparked angry protests from staff on the ship and ashore.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Darren Proctor, national secretary of the RMT union, says he woke up to a flurry of messages from people worried about what the company was about to announce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Heading to Dover, he was told that coaches with private security guards traveled to the port of P&#038;O on the south coast of England, as well as to Hull, Larne and Cairnryan.  &#8220;They had to be handcuffed trained,&#8221; she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Then, at 11:10 GMT, their worst fears were confirmed: 800 employees were told they were immediately fired.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Proctor says some staff remain on the three ships in Dover, but some have left and security staff have boarded to try to place their replacements on post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<div >\n<ul >\n<li>P&#038;O Ferries lays off 800 but crew refuse to abandon ships<\/li>\n<li>&#8216;No one can get on or off the ship until we have guarantees&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>Job losses at P&#038;O a devastating blow to Dover, says MP<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >James, a steward aboard the Spirit of France ferry in Dover, was on a day off when he heard the redundancy announcement. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >He received a text half an hour before the three-minute video from P&#038;O management.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >&#8220;It feels like the company has abandoned us, just a few days ago they were ordering new uniforms and giving us all a pay raise and now, completely out of the blue, they&#8217;ve fired us,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >James, who declined to give his last name, said staff were told they would be given a &#8220;generous severance package&#8221; in the video message, but staff were unable to ask questions after the call and no details were given about severance pay.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >&#8220;I&#8217;ll never know how they expect to operate an entire fleet of ships with a fresh, inexperienced crew, it&#8217;s not going to be easy sailing,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Aboard the Pride of Hull, staff fell silent after the shocking announcement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Gary Jackson, an RMT officer who is on board the ship at Hull&#8217;s King George Dock, said replacement junior staff were stationed outside the port waiting to board, while another van was carrying what he believed to be security staff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >&#8220;The captain has raised the gangway so that no one can get on or off the ship until we have guarantees about our future,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Asked by the BBC how long they intended to stay aboard the Pride of Hull, the staff said: &#8220;As long as it takes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >The standoff meant other workers on board the ship were also trapped.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Keith Davis had been repairing some kitchen equipment with eight other contractors when the gangway was raised by the captain.  &#8220;We are being held against our will,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Later on Thursday, the aft doors of the Pride of Hull were seen opening and some vehicles being lowered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Dozens of workers also blocked roads in Dover in protest, with some colliding with motorists while standing on the road with banners and flags reading &#8220;Stop P&#038;O job sharing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Some insisted that they would not move until the police arrived to take them away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >A 54-year-old man, who has worked in ferry engine rooms since the 1980s, told the Pennsylvania News Agency: &#8220;To be honest, I&#8217;m furious. I know people who have been with the company for years &#8211; this is no way to treat people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >&#8220;It was just a short message this morning saying everyone lost a job basically all this service for nothing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Protesting staff members want P&#038;O Ferries to start talking to them about their jobs, but RMT National Secretary Mr Proctor says: &#8220;This is a company that doesn&#8217;t want to negotiate at all, there has been no dialogue with them and obviously I&#8217;ve been organizing this for a long time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Asked if it was true, as the company suggested, that P&#038;O management had no choice, he said that it had been financially mismanaged for years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >\u201cThey have chosen to go for the UK shipping jugular,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >Now the staff want the support of parliamentarians and the government and are trying to get international backing from workers in foreign ports. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<p >&#8220;If they can do it here, they can do it somewhere else and it can&#8217;t be allowed to happen,&#8221; says Mr. Proctor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div >\n<div >\n<ul >\n<li>NORWAY SEED Vault: These mysterious places are off limits to the general public<\/li>\n<li>IMPROVE YOUR CRITICAL THINKING: Why Getting It Right Might Mean Admitting You&#8217;re Wrong<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-60783784?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=KARANGA\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>P&#038;O Ferries shipping staff received a video message that 800 of them would be fired immediately when their ships returned to port. The decision has sparked angry protests from staff on the ship and ashore. Darren Proctor, national secretary of the RMT union, says he woke up to a flurry of messages from people worried [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.9 (Yoast SEO v18.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>P&amp;O Ferries: &#039;We&#039;ve been abandoned by the company&#039;, say sacked staff - Worabia News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worabia.com\/news\/world-news\/uk\/2943\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"P&amp;O Ferries: &#039;We&#039;ve been abandoned by the company&#039;, say sacked staff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"P&#038;O Ferries shipping staff received a video message that 800 of them would be fired immediately when their ships returned to port. 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