P&O Ferries goes under (or not)

[Paddy]

So it's cheaper to pay £36.5 million then to keep workers on.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...sacked-workers

Ferry operator P&O has revealed it is paying £36.5m to cover compensation for the 800 seafarers it sacked without warning.
It is understood staff who accept the payouts will be required to sign non-disclosure agreements requiring them not to disparage the company.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, told the House of Commons on Monday P&O was using the agreements to “keep the employees quiet”, and accused the company of acting in a “shameful and unacceptable way”.



It said more than 40 workers will receive more than £100,000, while no worker will receive less than £15,000.

P&O is offering two-and-a-half weeks’ salary for each year of employment, as well as up to 13 weeks’ salary in lieu of notice, and a further 13 weeks’ salary because of the absence of a consultation period. It said the compensation package was the basis for offers made to workers at the time of dismissal.

As an accountant's point of view it makes P&O more attractive to sell off.

[darmstadt]

Blame an idiot: https://news.sky.com/story/po-ferrie...-says-12572920

[ladymuck]

I heard something on the radio this morning that because the boats aren't UK registered and the companies the crew/staff were employed by are also not UK registered (Channel Islands IIRC) then they haven't done anything wrong. I was half asleep, dozing through the Today programme so some verification is needed.

[SueEllen]

I heard something on the radio this morning that because the boats aren't UK registered and the companies the crew/staff were employed by are also not UK registered (Channel Islands IIRC) then they haven't done anything wrong. I was half asleep, dozing through the Today programme so some verification is needed.

Heard the same on a different radio station.

[SueEllen]

Blame an idiot: https://news.sky.com/story/po-ferrie...-says-12572920

A change in the law signed off by former Conservative minister Chris Grayling cleared the way for P&O Ferries to legally sack 800 staff last week without telling the government, a leading maritime lawyer has told Sky News.

Legislation to protect employees in the UK was amended by Mr Grayling in 2018 so that the secretary of state does not have to be notified of mass redundancies on ships registered overseas.

No wonder companies want him!

[woohoo]

Seems it's ok to break the law now if it's going to be too difficult to stick to it. Hopefully, P&O don't find too many safety laws difficult to stick to.

P&O row: Boss squirms in grilling by MPs as he admits firm 'chose' to break the law | Daily Mail Online

[WTFH]

Seems it's ok to break the law now if it's going to be too difficult to stick to it. Hopefully, P&O don't find too many safety laws difficult to stick to.

P&O row: Boss squirms in grilling by MPs as he admits firm 'chose' to break the law | Daily Mail Online

If only they had said that they broke the law in a specific and limited way, then it would be OK under Tory guidelines about applying laws and treaties.

[vetran]

Did you notice they had 4 sets of crew per vessel before, luckily they can now get away with 2 sets of crew. So 800 crew become 400 and they get to spend more hours working in this exciting new multilingual multi skill level environment!

How soon before we have a herald of free enterprise style tragedy on our hands?

[SueEllen]

Did you notice they had 4 sets of crew per vessel before, luckily they can now get away with 2 sets of crew. So 800 crew become 400 and they get to spend more hours working in this exciting new multilingual multi skill level environment!

How soon before we have a herald of free enterprise style tragedy on our hands?

Luckily on some routes other operators are available....

[vetran]

Luckily on some routes other operators are available....

DFDS or Stena do look attractive, I wonder how many will actually vote with their cash when cheap deals surface.

Also P&O do something like 15% of UK freight imports all those Polish trucks get here somehow. They are off for a few weeks I wonder how shop stocks will fare?