The Guardian view on P&O’s betrayal of workers: capitalism’s unacceptable face
P&O Ferries’ sacking of 800 seafarers was a cold-hearted, brutal affair. Staff lost their jobs without warning. The first inkling many had was when they began watching a corporate video message. Some were marched off ships by security guards wearing balaclavas and carrying handcuffs. Unions said P&O had bussed in lower-paid contract staff from abroad to replace them. This is a betrayal of a workforce who kept Britain supplied throughout the pandemic.
If there was an unacceptable face of capitalism today, it would be worn by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the emir of Dubai and billionaire head of the state that owns and controls P&O. The ferry operator’s chief executive, Peter Hebblethwaite, its third in three years, said the company had to sack workers and replace them with cheaper crew to remain viable. This does not stack up. P&O’s owner DP World, the state-owned ports operator, was flush with cash and could afford to pay sailors properly. This month DP World announced bumper profits of $896m (£751m) in 2021, up from $846m in 2020.
The mass sackings are probably not even lawful. The company did not give ministers the legally mandated 45 days’ notice of its intent. Failure to do so is a criminal offence. What P&O has attempted to do, it seems, is to offer compensation packages that purport to pay their way out of the company’s legal obligations, such as consulting staff. This was probably done to prevent trade unions from seeking an injunction to stop the sackings. Such sops won’t wash with the public, who know that P&O has acted in a cruel, inhumane and unethical manner.
The government must not give the green light to such acts. Yet the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has gone no further than rebuking the
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