P&O Ferries suspends all services

Same_as_before said:
We must have been on that ship 4/5 times.

At a rough guess then the cabin crews tips are far larger than their salary ?
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The lad who took over from me was a 1 1/2 striper so he was on best Asian pay rate, but no access to tips like stewards and waiters. They used to get extra by cleaning European crew cabins for a quid a day. Basically he had first dibs, then when he got enough to keep him busy it passed on to the next stage crew member down.
 
Those ships have just had their safety seriously impacted.
You cannot just walk onboard a ship having never worked on it, and sail it. One or two new crew can be carried by those already there, but entire new crews is outrageous.
There will be nuances with equipment, ship evacuation launching systems, fire fighting systems, layout (which can easily take a week to learn on passenger ships), emergency response plans etc that those in safety critical roles get thorough handovers to learn about all that stuff before they are deemed sufficiently familiar to sail the ships.

This is putting profits above passenger safety and is highly dangerous, wreckless and completely irresponsible, not to mention absolutely disgraceful.
 
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FabioPorkpie said:
Those ships have just had their safety seriously impacted.
You cannot just walk onboard a ship having never worked on it, and sail it. Be or two new crew can be carried by those already there, but entire new crews is outrageous.
There will be nuances with equipment, ship evacuation launching systems, fire fighting systems, layout (which can easily take a week to learn on passenger ships), emergency response plans etc that those in safety critical roles get thorough handovers to learn about before they are deemed sufficiently familiar to sail the ships.

This is putting profits above passenger safety and is highly dangerous, wreckless and completely irresponsible, not to mention absolutely disgraceful.
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It'll be fine. Remember Reece-Mogg wants to get UK to adopt Indian safety standards, so....
 
SmallTown said:
More than that. my mate is (was I guess) a captain. He was given 0 notice
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In that case the company must have somehow voided the employment contracts or paid the notice period.

If they have liquidated and started a new company (with the same shareholder beneficiaries) on the same day that that might do it. Not sure how viable that is though. Anyone know company law?
 
FabioPorkpie said:
Those ships have just had their safety seriously impacted.
You cannot just walk onboard a ship having never worked on it, and sail it. One or two new crew can be carried by those already there, but entire new crews is outrageous.
There will be nuances with equipment, ship evacuation launching systems, fire fighting systems, layout (which can easily take a week to learn on passenger ships), emergency response plans etc that those in safety critical roles get thorough handovers to learn about all that stuff before they are deemed sufficiently familiar to sail the ships.

This is putting profits above passenger safety and is highly dangerous, wreckless and completely irresponsible, not to mention absolutely disgraceful.
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I thought exactly the same thing. Getting on a ferry manned by completely 100% new crew? No thanks.
 
Same_as_before said:
It's 40% owned by a Russian company.
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The parent of P&O Ferries, DP World is a UAE company (Dubai Ports), not Russian, although some shareholders may be Russians.

P&O ferries lost £100 million last year. Those kinds of losses are unsustainable.

I am not condoning sacking staff to replace them with unskilled labour but something needs to change when money is being lost at that rate.
 
Squarewheelbike said:
The lad who took over from me was a 1 1/2 striper so he was on best Asian pay rate, but no access to tips like stewards and waiters. They used to get extra by cleaning European crew cabins for a quid a day. Basically he had first dibs, then when he got enough to keep him busy it passed on to the next stage crew member down.
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I have noticed that in the shops that sell goods particularly high value, not as though we buy them , are always British.
 
Soutra said:
The parent of P&O Ferries, DP World is a UAE company (Dubai Ports), not Russian, although some shareholders may be Russians.

P&O ferries lost £100 million last year. Those kinds of losses are unsustainable.

I am not condoning sacking staff to replace them with unskilled labour but something needs to change when money is being lost at that rate.
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Sell it to the government for a £1
 
ThePrisoner said:
In that case the company must have somehow voided the employment contracts or paid the notice period.

If they have liquidated and started a new company (with the same shareholder beneficiaries) on the same day that that might do it. Not sure how viable that is though. Anyone know company law?
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He certainly hasn't been paid. Been told he can reapply for his job through the agency.

There's a load of Latvian temp workers bused up to the ships ready to take over. I know the ships are registered in cyprus and the employees are hired through P&O Gibraltar but surely it still can't be legal to do this?
 
I read that they had been sacked rather than made redundant. I don't know the difference in employment law if i'm honest.
 
Cambsred said:
I read that they had been sacked rather than made redundant. I don't know the difference in employment law if i'm honest.
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Ultimately depends on the contract of employment but it's an unusual position to take. They've either got rock solid legal advice or haven't, and thought a) we'll ride it out (looks like they're knackered as a going concern either way) or b) have gone ahead knowing the backlash it will cause and hope the gvt step in.
 
Cambsred said:
I read that they had been sacked rather than made redundant. I don't know the difference in employment law if i'm honest.
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In British employment law you can make anyone redundant, but you need to go through consultation, especially with 800 people and that takes time. You can sack someone immediately. But you have to have good reason and a process. Imagine 800 unfair dismissal claims? It'll destroy the company. which is good in this instance, they've acted reprehensibly
 
‘Therefore I am sorry to inform you that this means that your employment is terminated with immediate effect on the grounds of redundancy’

They are the exact words from the video sent to those onboard.
 
SmallTown said:
He certainly hasn't been paid. Been told he can reapply for his job through the agency.

There's a load of Latvian temp workers bused up to the ships ready to take over. I know the ships are registered in cyprus and the employees are hired through P&O Gibraltar but surely it still can't be legal to do this?
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I don't know the industry. Maybe the employee contracts are not covered by UK law in which case they might not be worth the paper they are written on?
 
SmallTown said:
In British employment law you can make anyone redundant, but you need to go through consultation, especially with 800 people and that takes time. You can sack someone immediately. But you have to have good reason and a process. Imagine 800 unfair dismissal claims? It'll destroy the company. which is good in this instance, they've acted reprehensibly
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Hopefully each person will be able to bring a claim against them. It's a frightening prospect that employers may be able to do this so easily. How they had backup agency staff in place without anyone being aware/ reporting is equally disconcerting.
 
ThePrisoner said:
In that case the company must have somehow voided the employment contracts or paid the notice period.

If they have liquidated and started a new company (with the same shareholder beneficiaries) on the same day that that might do it. Not sure how viable that is though. Anyone know company law?
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Apparently the staff who were sacked had their contracts paid up, and more.

With regard to restructuring the company, DP World could create a new company to assume the assets of the old company. That's easy enough to do but the newco would have apply for all the licenses and certifications that you need to run a ferry. That will be fairly complex with new seafarers I think.
 
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