The mass sackings of hundreds of P&O workers has sparked a “race to the bottom” among ferry operators as it emerged a second firm could also be considering sacking its crew and replacing them with cheaper agency workers. It means if Boris Johnson fails to reverse P&O’s shock dismissal of 800 staff, thousands more British jobs could be put at risk, according to union leaders.
It came as the ferry company DFDS, which employs 2,700 crew members, lorry drivers and office staff in the UK, told Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, that it would be unable to compete if P&O’s move to pay wages as low as £5.50 an hour were not challenged and overturned. According to The Mirror, the Danish firm has demanded a “level playing field” to prevent it being forced to sack UK staff on its cross-Channel services and to bring in overseas workers on rates way below the minimum wage.
A spokesman for the company, which runs ferry services from Dover, Newhaven and Newcastle, said: “DFDS has written to the Secretary of State asking for a meeting to discuss how a level playing field on the Channel can be achieved for an operator like DFDS, whose crewing model employs British seafarers directly.” They declined to comment on the possible implications for staff or the contents of the letter.
