Remember P&O ferries sacking 800 British 'seafarers' last year ?

[Alan de Enfield]

Now Cunard & P&O Cruises are looking to do the same.

 

From the Guardian :

P&O Cruises and fellow cruise firm Cunard are preparing to fire and rehire more than 900 UK-based crew unless they accept salary cuts and more flexible working arrangements.

The affected crew include officers on the British flagship, the luxury ocean liner Queen Mary 2, and nine other ships operated under Carnival UK, which is part of the $18bn listed Carnival group.

 

The staff work on ships out of Southampton but are employed via a management company based in Bermuda, with notice of potential redundancies signed off by an operational head based in Mumbai.

A total of 919 professional, managerial and technical staff across the 10 cruise ships in Carnival UK and Cunard’s fleet face dismissal in early 2024 unless they agree to changes in terms and conditions that could reduce their annual earnings by up to 20%.

The UK government’s Insolvency Service was notified last week using the HR1 form, used by employers as they are obliged to give officials notice of mass redundancies.

Carnival’s employment firm, Fleet Maritime Services, said on the form: “No redundancies are proposed. Consultations are related to changes in terms and conditions relating to working days and working arrangements.

“Dismissal and re-engagement may be considered if agreement cannot be reached on new terms.”

 

A consultation with staff representatives about proposed changes only started on 14 November, the day before the form was lodged with government, according to the submission.

The move has strong echoes of the employment “scandal” sparked last year by a completely separate firm, P&O Ferries – which despite the name, is not part of the same group. The cross-Channel ferry operator apparently took advantage of a gap in legislation, sacking almost 800 UK-based seafarers without notice, to hire low-paid agency crew.

P&O Cruises sought to distance itself from this incident in promotional films, while MPs also stressed that the two firms were not the same. P&O Ferries is owned by Dubai-based DP World, while P&O Cruises is part of the British-American Carnival Corporation and plc, incorporated in Panama.

Most of the crew working on the cruise ships are employed via agencies in Asia, particular Mumbai.

P&O Cruises was found in 2012 to have been paying basic salaries of as little as 75p an hour.

Carnival UK was approached for comment.

[Guest]

ISTR that they went to great pains to distance themselves from P&O ferries at the time too.

 

Another firm to cross off the list of those that we would use whilst alternatives exist. (Not that we go cruising anyway but if we did.)

[Sea Dog]

Isn't it just another case of cut the wage bill or die through not being able to compete? Plenty of other UK industry has gone west (or east actually) for similar reasons. Worse, I think, is allowing a Chinese company to end the UK's ability to produce steel from ore - replacing the last blast furnaces with electric arc limits us to recycling only. Nazi Germany's bombs did less damage to British industry. We need to invest heavily in Specsavers to combat our industrial scale shortsightedness.

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

We need to invest heavily in Specsavers to combat our industrial scale shortsightedness.

That should at least help the economy of Barnard Castle!

[Peanut]

The City doesn't care, so long as they get a return to capital, ownership doesn't matter to them.  Hence, no investment in manufacture, and supine, dumb  politicians.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

They are doing it because P&O Ferries were allowed to get away with it.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/17/one-year-on-has-po-ferries-got-away-with-illegally-sacking-all-its-crew

 

This topic may need moving to Politics and Current Affairs, seeing as it isn't actually about canal boating, excepting the times a cruise liner uses a sea canal.

 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

They are doing it because P&O Ferries were allowed to get away with it.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/17/one-year-on-has-po-ferries-got-away-with-illegally-sacking-all-its-crew

 

This topic may need moving to Politics and Current Affairs, seeing as it isn't actually about canal boating, excepting the times a cruise liner uses a sea canal.

 

 

I put it in 'general boating' as I didn't realise there were any restriction in the types of boats discussed & that we were only allowed to post about 'canal boating'.

Maybe all of the posts and threads about rivers, and salty-waters should be removed ?

 

Cruise ship in the Corinth canal.

 

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

4 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

put it in 'general boating' as I didn't realise there were any restriction in the types of boats discussed & that we were only allowed to post about 'canal boating'.

It's happy where it is. Only if it turns in to politics, which hasn't happened yet, but is a risk.

[Alan de Enfield]

24/11/23

 

Carnival UK has committed not to fire and rehire its cruise ship staff, after it was revealed that the company had made provisions to potentially dismiss and re-engage more than 900 seafarers on its P&O Cruises and Cunard fleet.

 

Cruise firm Carnival UK withdraws threat to fire and rehire more than 900 staff | Carnival | The Guardian

[junior]

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

24/11/23

 

Carnival UK has committed not to fire and rehire its cruise ship staff, after it was revealed that the company had made provisions to potentially dismiss and re-engage more than 900 seafarers on its P&O Cruises and Cunard fleet.

 

Cruise firm Carnival UK withdraws threat to fire and rehire more than 900 staff | Carnival | The Guardian

 

It's an interesting way of reporting by the Guardian because the reports I saw today were along the lines of that was never the initial intention and that the union and the company issued a statement stating that they were in joint negotiations.

[Peanut]

Maybe they smoked them out.

[Stilllearning]

12 hours ago, Peanut said:

Maybe they smoked them out.

Reading the Guardian article, it looks like Piss&Off were planning/hoping to do it again but the Nautilus International union made it very public, thus shaming the ghastly company into backing off.

[Dav and Pen]

This is not the same P&O as the ferry company this is a brand owned by Carnival along with Cunard and I would think the majority of the crew are not directly contracted to the company .

[howardang]

3 hours ago, Dav and Pen said:

This is not the same P&O as the ferry company this is a brand owned by Carnival along with Cunard and I would think the majority of the crew are not directly contracted to the company .

I am saddened when I read about both P.O. and Cunard in this context and contrast the 2 present day organisations with the original  companies that I remember fondly from my earlier seagoing days. I was fortunate to have spent a number of years working as a deck officer with Cunard and can still remember the high standards which both Cunard and P&O maintained; two highly respected British companies now sad shadows of a previous existence.

Howard

 

[MtB]

All this chat about Cunard reminds me of the old joke:

 

Judge, to defendent: "Defendent, what do you do for a living?"

Defendent: "I'm a seaman, your Honour. I work for Cunard."

Judge: "I only asked what you do, not how hard you work."

 

 

I'll get me coat....