The UN’s workers’ rights watchdog has urged the UK government to bolster protections to avoid another P&O Ferries redundancy scandal.
Following a complaint by the TUC, Nautilus and RMT unions, and international union bodies the ETF, ITF and ITUC, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) called on the UK to increase sanctions for companies that ignore their redundancy obligations.
In March 2022 P&O Ferries sacked almost 800 seafarers without consultation while replacement agency staff waited on nearby coaches.
Some complained they were marched off ships by hired security staff and were not given an opportunity to collect their belongings.
Although P&O Ferries had a collective agreement with the RMT and Nautilus, the unions were not informed about the redundancies in advance.
It later emerged that the replacement staff, who were not from the UK, were being paid below the national minimum wage – in some cases only £5.15 an hour. A few of those who had been sacked were offered new jobs with the company on inferior terms and conditions.
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Following pressure from unions, the UK government produced a draft ‘fire and rehire’ code.
The unions complained about the UK government’s response to the ILO’s committee on freedom of association, claiming that the protections offered to workers under UK legislation were insufficient.
They noted that under UK law, collective agreements between employers and trade unions are not enforceable by unions, allowing employers to breach them with impunity.
They said that P&O Ferries breached its obligations to the unions under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA) and under TUPE regulations, which applied because crew management had been outsourced to a company in Malta just one month prior to the redundancies.
Unions told the ILO that the government should introduce sector-wide collective bargaining in respect of all ferries serving UK ports, remove the prohibition on secondary industrial action to allow union members at other employers in the same sector to strike in support of their colleagues, strengthen the requirements of TUPE and TULCRA, and prevent fire and rehire techniques.
The government told the ILO that it had condemned P&O Ferries’ actions in the strongest possible terms and had supported the workers, but it disagreed that laws needed to be amended, noting that it was already taking action to tackle fire and rehire practices.
However, the ILO said the government needed to do more to ensure “mutual respect” for agreements between employers and unions, and recommended that it engaged with social partners to overcome challenges regarding the legislative prohibition on “sympathy strikes”.
It has also recommended that the government ensures adequate and efficient protections against acts of anti-union discrimination, which should include “sufficiently dissuasive” sanctions and prompt means of redress including reinstatement.
In a joint statement, the TUC, Nautilus and RMT said: “P&O Ferries’ brutal sacking of 800 dedicated seafarers in March 2022 was one of the most shocking episodes in modern industrial relations.
“Despite admitting acting illegally, P&O Ferries have faced no sanctions and have been let off the hook for their appalling treatment of staff. Conservative ministers haven’t lifted a finger. They should have come down like a tonne of bricks on P&O Ferries and their parent company, DP World.
“As the ILO makes clear, this can’t go on. Without a proper sanctions regime, rogue employers like P&O Ferries will continue to get away with treating staff like disposable labour.”
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