There have been reports that security guards with handcuffs are seeking to board P&O ships at Dover to remove crew so they can be replaced with awaiting cheaper labour. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch made the claims this afternoon.
P&O Ferries said this afternoon that it had handed 800 seafarers immediate severance notices. Services are to be suspended for the next few days, leaving travel plans and freight movements in chaos.
P&O Ferries said in a statement: "In its current state, P&O Ferries is not a viable business.
"We have made a £100 million loss year on year, which has been covered by our parent, DP World. This is not sustainable.
"Our survival is dependent on making swift and significant changes now. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries."
The company added that, after "seriously considering all the available options", it has taken the "very difficult but necessary decision" to hand immediate severance notices to 800 seafarers.
Those sacked will be compensated for the lack of notice with "enhanced compensation packages".
Crew members that belong to trade unions were earlier advised not to leave the ships they were on. Now, a union boss said it was seeking "urgent legal action".
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "We are receiving reports that security guards at Dover are seeking to board ships with handcuffs to remove crew so they can be replaced with cheaper labour.
"We are seeking urgent legal action and are again calling for the Government to take action to stop what is fast turning into one of the most shameful acts in the history of British industrial relations.
"If this happens at P&O it can happen anywhere, and we are calling for mass trade union and wider public mobilisation and protest against the company."
Separately, a former P&O Ferries worker told of a planned protest at a port. Dozens of employees gathered outside the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) office in Dover on Thursday afternoon.
The man, aged 54, who has worked in ferry engine rooms since the 1980s, told the PA news agency: "I'm fuming, to be honest with you. I've known people who've been with the firm for years - this is no way to treat people. It was just a short message this morning saying you've all lost a job, basically - all this service for nothing.
"I've seen coach loads of agency crews waiting in the car park at Hyde services just waiting to come down - it's as simple as that. There's going to be a protest here, one of the union guys just said if there's no one working to come along and support."
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