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MARINERS called for government intervention today after ferry operator P&O announced plans to sack 1,000 workers — despite receiving £10 million in bail-out cash from the taxpayer.
Seafarers’ union RMT has written to Shipping Minister Kelly Tolhurst demanding the government support the union’s fight to save the jobs.
It wants more seafarers’ and dockers’ jobs “furloughed” through the government’s Job Retention Scheme.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “These are keyworker jobs that support the local economy, particularly in Dover and Hull.
“P&O Ferries and their paymasters in Dubai are threatening RMT seafarers’ jobs because they want to replace them with cheaper ratings from the other side of the world when the recovery in passenger numbers comes.”
The mariners work on strategically important ferry routes from Dover and Hull to the continent.
RMT also wants long-term action from the government to protect and rebuild Britain’s maritime workforce in the face of operators’ determination to recruit cheap, unprotected workers from overseas.
