TUC – ministers must “come down like a ton of bricks” on P&O

Responding to the letter from P&O Ferries to the government, which admits that no consultation was carried out in advance, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“Ministers must come down on P&O like a ton of bricks.

“If P&O is allowed to get away with a slap on the wrist, it will be a green light for employers up and down the land to treat staff like disposable labour.

“The government needs to hit the firm where it really hurts.

“That means suspending all of P&O’s licenses immediately and cancelling its lucrative freeport contracts until all workers have been reinstated.

“The Chancellor must use his statement tomorrow to show that he is willing to stand up to bad bosses. Not a single penny of taxpayers’ money should be given to companies that trample over workers’ rights.”

The TUC says the government must be prepared take over P&O vessels as an operator of last resort and re-instate all 800 sacked staff.

In addition, the union body says ministers must bring forward an employment bill to:

• End fire and rehire style practices and stop companies firing at will: P&O has exploited many of the same weaknesses in the law as companies using the punitive fire and rehire tactics. TUC research published during the pandemic revealed that 1 in 11 (9%) of workers have been forced to re-apply for their jobs on inferior terms and conditions. The law should state that no notices of dismissal can be given until consultation has been completed. Employees should be given protection from unfair dismissal from day one in the job.
• Increase penalties on companies that break employment law: P&O’s failure to consult staff on their redundancies was unlawful. But companies who flout employment law  can get away with offering staff measly compensation and are rarely punished in the courts.
• Ban other forms of exploitative practices: More than one million workers in the UK are employed on zero-hours contracts and thousands of others are employed in bogus self- employment. The TUC says zero-hours contracts and umbrella companies should be banned.