Replacements for P&O Ferries crew paid L1.80 an hour, unions say

Also: DP World’s controversial history of P&O ownership (The Guardian)

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Source: The Guardian

Replacements for P&O Ferries crew paid £1.80 an hour, unions say

RMT says agency rates for seafarers are ‘gut-wrenching betrayal’ of 800 sacked British staff

Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent
@GwynTopham
Mon 21 Mar 2022 19.05 GMT

Seafarers from abroad brought in to replace the 800 sacked British P&O Ferries crew are being paid as little as £1.80 an hour, unions have claimed.

The news emerged as Labour accused the government of doing “absolutely nothing” when it learned of the planned sackings, as a memorandum with the “game plan” of P&O was circulated on Wednesday evening.

The RMT union, which represents many of the staff who were abruptly fired last week by the Dubai-owned company, said Indian ratings brought in by offshore agencies to operate on the Dover-Calais route were being paid $2.38 (£1.80) an hour.

It is understood that P&O Ferries disputes the figures, but it declined to discuss the rates or give alternative rates as the crew are employed by a third-party agency.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/21/replacements-for-po-ferries-crew-paid-180-an-hour-unions-say

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Source: The Guardian

DP World’s controversial history of P&O ownership

Analysis: The economic model of the firm, ultimately owned by Dubai royalty, was under question even before the mass sackings

correspondent
@GwynTopham
Fri 18 Mar 2022 18.22 GMT

When Dubai Ports Ltd first bought up the ports and ships of P&O 16 years ago, the question that preoccupied a country reeling from the 2005 Islamist terrorist attacks was Britain’s physical security.

Now, the questions are focused on the economic security of Britain’s workforce.

From DP World’s vantage point in the Gulf, the crew of the loss-making ferries of P&O may never have been a pressing concern. The heart of DP World’s global operation is the enormous Jebel Ali port, at the trading crossroads of continents, boasting the largest artificial harbour in the world, incorporating ever more and ever bigger container ships.

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Bin Sulayem and DP World originally bought P&O – then a London listed company – in 2006 for £3.3bn. It paid a huge premium, about 70% over the market value, for a group that Margaret Thatcher had once described as “the fabric of the British empire”.

However, the ports were always its key target: Bin Sulayem admitted then that he had limited knowledge of the ferry business that came alongside, but denied he had plans to sell them off. They were however sold to a separate state-owned entity, Dubai World, around the time of the financial crisis, before DP World bought them back for $322m (£244m) in 2019.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/18/dp-world-p-and-o-ownership-dubai