P&O Ferries, UK’s leading ferry company, has fired its 800 employees with immediate effect. This sudden mass layoff is similar to what Vishal Garg did at Better.com inviting a lot of criticism on social media.
The termination took place through a three-minute pre-recorded video that was leaked on the internet. This brought chaos to some of the largest British ports and prompted outrage from union officials and workers who refused to leave their ships.
The 24-second clip of the video made headlines as it was released by the BBC South East. In the video message, a man was heard saying, “The company has made the decision that its vessels going forward will be primarily crewed by a third-party crew provider. Therefore, I am sorry to inform you that this means your employment is terminated with immediate effect on the grounds of redundancy. Your final day of employment is today,” he said in the video.
This news has come after a series of announcements by the company. The company informed that the cancellation of ferries crossing Dover which then extended to all ferry crossings of P&O was cancelled for the next few days.
P&O Ferries carried more than 10 million passengers per year before the COVID-19 pandemic and also had 2.2 million units of freight between ports in the United Kingdom and Europe every year.
“In its current state, P&O Ferries is not a viable business. We have made a £100 million ($130 million) loss year-on-year, which has been covered by our parent DP World,” a spokesperson told CNN Business.
According to the company, the mass layoffs was a necessary measure to ensure survival in the market. During the pandemic, it saw a slump in demand after paying a hefty dividend to its investors. Therefore, the company announced it would cut 1,100 jobs.
Some of the company workers have also been associated with the Company for the past two decades. They felt dismayed and betrayed after hearing the news as the company no longer needs them.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) and Nautilus International, a trade union in England, are seeking the intervention of the government in the matter and demanding investigation into whether the company has broken any labour law.
