LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – In consequence of the manner in which P&O Ferries sacked 800 employees, all of the firm’s government contracts will be examined.
Staff members have been demonstrating after being notified by a video statement on Thursday that it will be “their final day of employment” without warning.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps expressed his “deep concern” about the decision in a letter to the corporation, questioning if it was lawful.
It was a “last resort” for P&O to salvage the business, according to the company.
Since the announcement, commuters have been left stuck as operations have been cancelled.
Mr Shapps encouraged the business to halt the layoffs and ordered the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to assess all boats to ensure that replacement staff “rushed through” were fit to sail.
He also instructed the Insolvency Service to look into the legislation around notice obligations to determine if P&O followed legal and proper procedures, so the government can decide whether or not to take further action.
According to BBC NEWS, protests have arisen in Liverpool, Hull, Dover, and other parts of the UK in response to the P&O layoffs, while the vessels remain stranded at docks and ferry delays create travel inconvenience.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has also written to P&O Ferries’ CEO, asking for explanations about the company’s handling of the layoffs.
The corporation “appears to have failed” to follow the right process for making massive redundancies, according to Mr. Kwarteng’s letter to its boss Peter Hebblethwaite, which will include consulting with employees and union members and informing them via the Redundancy Payment Service and the Insolvency Service.
Mr. Kwarteng’s inquiries to P&O Ferries include information on the precise figure of redundancies and see how many of them were made without dialogue, as well as the whereabouts of each employee who was sacked.
P&O Ferries is owned by DP World, a Dubai-based company that also operates Southampton and London ports.
Last year, DP World reported £8 billion in revenue. During the Covid pandemic, the corporation received around £15 million in furloughs and grants.
The RMT union called the action “one of the most shameful acts” in British industrial relations history.
