P&O Ferries unceremoniously dismissed 800 UK-based seafarers in March 2022. The new crew of the European Causeway ferry were among the workers hired to replace them – on far cheaper pay rates to their predecessors. P&O says the new Larne-Cairnryan crews are paid the UK minimum wage. But on routes which sail outside British waters, it can pay a far lower hourly rate – $2.27 (according to the RMT) or a still paltry $6.86 (according to P&O) – because the company has ‘flagged out’ its vessels to Cyprus.
So far P&O has faced little in the way of legal consequences. By offering seafarers enhanced redundancy terms, it has averted employment tribunal claims. Trade unions RMT and Nautilus International are nonetheless seeking remedy. In May RMT national secretary Darren Procter, brandishing a pair of handcuffs, led an occupation of parent company DP World’s London offices. The demonstration followed a blockade of P&O’s Cairnryan port in April, which partially succeeded in preventing cargo trucks from boarding a ship sailing to the Northern Irish port of Larne.
