Irish Examiner view: Return to capitalism red in tooth and claw

P&O's action described as one of the most 'vicious examples of despotic employer behaviour'

Sacked P&O workers are joined by seafarers from Stena Line, who came to the protest to show solidarity at Larne Port in Northern Ireland. 

For anyone born since the 1980s the summary dismissal of 800 crew members by loss-making P&O Ferries is a useful reminder of the way in which muscular global capitalism can work when it is thwarted.

All ferry services including Liverpool to Dublin and from Cairnryan, Scotland, to Larne in the North have been suspended while a dispute rages with the Dubai-based DP World who appear to have acted without the statutory 45-day notice period which is required for large-scale redundancies.

P&O — the name derives from its original Victorian title of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company — acted in a manner reminiscent of Rupert Murdoch’s mass transfer of printing to Wapping in 1986 and Ronald Reagan’s 1981 dismissal of 11,359 air-traffic controllers, the kind of industrial spasm that has lapsed long in the memory.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) says that the action is one of the most “vicious examples of despotic employer behaviour” and one of the most shameful episodes in Britain's recent industrial history. The RMT is also the union that paralysed London with a three-day Tube strike at the start of this month over the issue of driverless trains and pensions.

P&O were a beneficiary of taxpayer financial support during the Covid pandemic. But their action may precipitate a demand to reform the highly controversial “fire and rehire” component of industrial relations legislation which is deployed by corporations and multi-nationals to reduce staff costs and introduce changes in work procedures.

The company’s actions will almost certainly be open to legal challenge. If it is found to have acted beyond the rules, then directors could be held criminally liable. In the meantime they must be confident that their replacement crews are up to the job. 

The English Channel is the busiest shipping lane in the world. “It’s like walking across a six-lane motorway at rush hour” said the leader of the international seafarer’s union Nautilus.