P&O Ferries’ abstract sacking of a whole bunch of seafarers in March 2022 was and stays maybe essentially the most ruthless act of “restructuring” in British company historical past.
From the furthest left of the trades union motion to the proper of the Conservative authorities, P&O and its lightning-rod chief govt Peter Hebblethwaite had been condemned for shamelessly placing revenue earlier than folks, with out the courtesy of discover and due session.
Two years on, the corporate stays unapologetic and a pariah to some, together with the transport secretary. Which will by no means change. However long-overdue accounts for 2022 do illuminate why the corporate acted because it did.
In 2022, buffeted by Brexit and with passenger numbers devastated by COVID, P&O was holed beneath the water line, leaking money and sinking quick.
Losses in 2021 had swelled to £375m, with payroll prices for 3,018 workers – 859 of them seafarers – of greater than £132m.
It was additionally in breach of its covenants on greater than £70m of loans from an exterior lender underwriting the price of new hybrid cross-Channel ferries.
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Chancellor quizzed over P&O ferries
Solely rolling and growing loans from dad or mum firm DP World had been stopping P&O from going beneath.
In addition to incomes at the least the UK minimal wage, these seafarers had been certain by work patterns negotiated with unions, together with the RMT, that P&O says lacked flexibility and left some crossings unprofitable.
Against this one in every of their opponents on the Dover-Calais route, Irish Ferries, was exploiting worldwide maritime regulation to pay company seafarers far much less.
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Peter Hebblethwaite, chief govt of P&O Ferries. Pic: PA
Mr Hebblethwaite’s response – and DP World insists it was his name – was breathtaking. The unionised workforce was fired by video name, escorted from vessels and, after a four-week shutdown, changed by staff largely flown in from past Europe for rosters involving months at sea.
That transfer saved greater than £21m from the payroll and helped a turnaround the corporate says will see a return to pre-tax revenue this yr.
Ask P&O executives in Dover or these from its dad or mum firm in Dubai, and they’ll inform you the ends justified the means, and level out that passenger numbers are growing.
New legal guidelines that got here too late for sacked staff
And these accounts have been filed simply as laws takes impact that will have eliminated any benefit from the sackings.
Since Could, French regulation has required the minimal wage to be paid in French waters, and from December, UK regulation would require the identical, making the Channel a haven of comparatively excessive pay in a maritime business overwhelmingly fuelled by low-cost labour sourced from Asia.
It’s an irony unlikely to be misplaced on seafarers who paid with their jobs.
