Unfortunately nothing will change. Outrage will be voiced in the house of commons, strong protests sent to P&O head office but no action will be taken, the 800 will sadly lose doing a job most loved and did brilliantly and they will continue sailing with a mish mash of foreign crew. Those crew will have even less rights than the poor sods sacked, be paid less, work longer hours and have no legal representation. They will be bullied and I guarantee work hours over their scheduled rosters on many occasions, so compromising their health and the safety of all onboard.
A small local community, Dover and the surrounding areas will be devastated. P&O have a long sullied history of treating their crew deplorably, in particular British seafarers. They have two brand new double ended ferries coming into the Dover/Calais route next year. These will carry more feight and passengers and have quicker turn around times in port. This will mean more stress and less rest on crews but obviously it will increase profit. That's what it's all about, profit. They now have crew onboard paid peanuts. The company don't have to pay any sick pay, leave pay, national insurance and more importantly for them pension money. They have dragged their feet paying what they owe and agreed to pay to the MNRPF. A court ordered them to pay this money, to date they haven't done so. A company benefit of morals and conscience. A company that did something akin to this in 1988 when they sacked 2,000 workers for refusing to work under new inferior contracts. This was the days of Thatcher's Britain, few jobs, one in ten songs and Auf Wiedershen Pet. Reeling and with no other job prospects out there sadly after holding out for months enough of the workforce cracked and went back. Beefed up by rookies who due to all the previous stated jumped at the chance to take one of the jobs on offer. After all it paid more than the dole. I and many others did not, we stuck it out for sixteen long bitter months. I'd rather die than give in to bullies and something I know is morally wrong. Oh as a footnote they pulled this stunt almost a year to the day of the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise that resulted in the death of 193 passengers and crew. Yes, they brought in new working conditions that heaped more stress and fatigue on crew just a year after a a major disaster involving one of their ships. They also sacked crew that were given bravery awards for their heroism that night saving lives. Complete and utter cunts then and now.
Apologies for the long post. I'm out of it now so it doesn't effect me directly but to read, hear and see the utter heartbreak and devastation that it has caused to many of my old crew mates and friends is tough. Decent, dedicated hard working beautiful people. You see when you live and work together onboard a ship you become more than workmates you're family. One bleeds we all bleed. Fuck P&O and the corrupt souless employment laws and management that allow this misery to be heaped on good people
A small local community, Dover and the surrounding areas will be devastated. P&O have a long sullied history of treating their crew deplorably, in particular British seafarers. They have two brand new double ended ferries coming into the Dover/Calais route next year. These will carry more feight and passengers and have quicker turn around times in port. This will mean more stress and less rest on crews but obviously it will increase profit. That's what it's all about, profit. They now have crew onboard paid peanuts. The company don't have to pay any sick pay, leave pay, national insurance and more importantly for them pension money. They have dragged their feet paying what they owe and agreed to pay to the MNRPF. A court ordered them to pay this money, to date they haven't done so. A company benefit of morals and conscience. A company that did something akin to this in 1988 when they sacked 2,000 workers for refusing to work under new inferior contracts. This was the days of Thatcher's Britain, few jobs, one in ten songs and Auf Wiedershen Pet. Reeling and with no other job prospects out there sadly after holding out for months enough of the workforce cracked and went back. Beefed up by rookies who due to all the previous stated jumped at the chance to take one of the jobs on offer. After all it paid more than the dole. I and many others did not, we stuck it out for sixteen long bitter months. I'd rather die than give in to bullies and something I know is morally wrong. Oh as a footnote they pulled this stunt almost a year to the day of the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise that resulted in the death of 193 passengers and crew. Yes, they brought in new working conditions that heaped more stress and fatigue on crew just a year after a a major disaster involving one of their ships. They also sacked crew that were given bravery awards for their heroism that night saving lives. Complete and utter cunts then and now.
Apologies for the long post. I'm out of it now so it doesn't effect me directly but to read, hear and see the utter heartbreak and devastation that it has caused to many of my old crew mates and friends is tough. Decent, dedicated hard working beautiful people. You see when you live and work together onboard a ship you become more than workmates you're family. One bleeds we all bleed. Fuck P&O and the corrupt souless employment laws and management that allow this misery to be heaped on good people
