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Standing Up For Somerset Residents
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UPDATE (23/3/21): P & O Ferries write open letter back to the Conservative Minister Kwasi Kwarteng...
... and P & O CEO Peter Hebblethwaite uses many of the same phrases that Somerset's Conservative MPs and Ministers have been quoted by us as saying.
We said that Tory MPs parroted employers and this proves it.
For example, Hebblethwaite writes, in the letter published by the BBC:
"We saw no other viable means of preserving our iconic British business, saving the 2,200 remaining jobs it provides and protecting the 15% Britain's trade capacity it facilitates."
It's British and iconic, P & O Ferries, Hebblethwaite claims.
Is P & O British or Not British?
It is well-documented that P & O Ferries is owned by DP World, based in Dubai, which is not British.
In the same letter, P & O state that "all relevant vessels are registered outside of the UK". The names of the ships sound British. Let's have a look at each one...
Spirit of Britain is registered in Cyprus - not British
Pride of Hull in Bahamas - not British
Pride of Canterbury in Cyprus - not British
Pride of Kent in Cyprus - not British
The employees that were dismissed were from three companies - all registered in Jersey. Is Jersey British or not? Jersey is a Crown Dependency, has its own Parliament, its own identity internationally, and is not part of the United Kingdom.
Conclusions
You can make up your own minds on whether P & O Ferries is "British" or not.
P & O Ferries operate to and from ports in Britain and some of its workers are British residents. But that seems to be about it.
P & O Ferries seem to be as "British" as the foreign-owned Premier League football teams, one of which - Chelsea - has been forced to be sold off by the UK Government after sanctions were applied to Chelsea's owner.
Whether P & O Ferries will continue to operate to and from British ports, or whether another operator will take over, will test P & O's claim that their ferries are "iconic" or not.
Will UK Governments - Labour, Lib Dem or Tory - do anything to stop it being the same old story, when it comes to workers at sea?
Their track record suggests that they will not, because they are still not serving the people that they are supposed to serve - the British people.
Instead, these Westminster parties accept money from all sorts of the wrong sources and serve the wrong interests - themselves and their rotten parties.
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UPDATE (20/3/21): According to ITV News reporting on The Sunday Times, Conservative Ministers "knew of P&O Ferries" plans to slash jobs.
The report says:
"The Sunday Times newspaper said it received a leaked memo apparently
written by a senior Whitehall official which tried to “justify” the mass redundancies, stating that “without these decisions, an estimated 2,200 staff would likely lose their jobs”...
"The newspaper said it was “widely shared across government” and
recipients included the Prime Minister’s private office while Transport
Secretary Grant Shapps is understood to have received a copy."
This attitude by Tory MPs echoes the response that Somerset Independents received when it asked Somerset MPs about the Clark's dispute here in Somerset (Clark's is now Chinese-owned).
Liam Fox (Tory, North Somerset) and James Heappey (Tory, Wells) made pronouncements about the Clark's dispute. And both seem to think sacking workers or attacking their rights is OK - as long as the employer claims they are struggling and claims it is done to save other jobs.
Somerset Independents stands up for residents and for workers. We want to see good employers thrive. But P & O and Clark's are clearly not good employers.
Like Liam Fox - himself a former Minister - and Wells MP James Heappey - currently a Minister - both displayed a terrible attitude during the Clark's dispute in Heappey's
constituency (see our earlier report below). Fox mentioned Heappey in his response to us.
In relation to P & O, Heappey told Sky News: 'that the government "cannot force an
employer to continue to employ people that the employer has said it
doesn't want to employ."
Leader of Somerset Independents, Andrew Pope, himself a former union representative and negotiator, says:
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Andrew Pope
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"The way the Whitehall memo is written - Heappey is a Minister - mirrors the way Somerset MP Liam Fox attempted to justify attacking Clark's workers, when we asked him about the Somerset dispute.
Mr Fox told us and I quote: 'It is clear that they are trying to maintain jobs at a time when they
are losing money. The alternative to the current plan seems to be
increased redundancies which I am sure people would want to avoid.'
Whether it is James Heappey or Liam Fox, the attitude is very similar.
Both Clark's and P & O are struggling, and both have attempted to use the management failures to cut jobs and attack workers. And according to Tory MPs and Tory ministers, it seems it is OK to sack 800 workers to save 2,200 workers.
No, it isn't OK.
Poor strategic decisions from management failures should not lead to sackings or reductions in terms and conditions of employment.
It seems that whether it is here in Somerset or out at sea, Tory MPs put the needs and claims of employers first and the needs of employees a very distant last.
But Grant Shapps and other ministers have expressed their false horror at the treatment of P & O workers.
Tories pretend to care and say they are "reviewing" the legality of the actions of P & O.
Were Tory ministers aware, and are Labour MPs aware, that the law at sea is not the same as UK employment law?
When workers are at sea, they would surely be covered by international maritime law, not UK law? An example is the 2014 Maritime Labour Convention on Seafarer working and living rights.
As a former councillor in a port city, I asked similar questions when I heard from workers on cruise ships. I heard all about the undermining of workers and their rights at sea.
I understood that treating workers at sea in such a poor way, was commonly done by seafaring employers.
Does maritime law apply or UK law? Government ministers should be honest about it - surely they would be able to say - or are they so incompetent that they don't know?
If they did know about it, what did they do about it?
Labour had 13 years of Government to sort this out. The Tories have had 12 years in Government. The Lib Dems even had the Coalition.
But Labour, Tories and Lib Dems showed that they cannot be trusted to stand up for Somerset residents or stand up for workers.
They pretend that they care but when it comes to the crunch, neither used Government to change international maritime law to protect workers at sea.
It's yet another case of Labour, Lib Dem or Tory, it's the same old story."
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UPDATE (25/10/21): Conservative MPs including Somerset's Conservative MPs voted down the Private Members Bill that Somerset Independents asked them to support. The Bill would limit Fire and Rehire, which the new owners of Clark's propose to use to attack the company's workers.
Worse than this, only two Somerset MPs have responded to our challenges. At the time of writing, no other MPs have responded. And even these two lame responses do not help Somerset's workers.
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Dr Liam Fox
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Dr Liam Fox, Conservative MP for North Somerset did not answer our questions. Instead, he produced what amounts to an attempt at an excuse for the owners of Clark's to do what they have done to the company's workers, and for what they propose to do - to cut terms and conditions of employment without consent from the workers themselves.
Dr Fox told Leader of Somerset Independents, Andrew Pope:
"I have been in touch with Clarks and the local MP, James Heappey. I am not sure whether you are aware of the following facts.
There have been some employees
working in the factory on superior contracts from pervious owners. In
order to avoid further redundancies, they have brought them all
(potentially) to the same hourly pay. Some getting
a rise and some getting a reduction. It must be noted that Clarks’
figures have recently been published and last year they lost £180
million. The investment they have received was £100 million and that
secured the future of Clarks and jobs for their employees.
It is clear that they are trying to maintain jobs at a time when they
are losing money. The alternative to the current plan seems to be
increased redundancies which I am sure people would want to avoid."
James Heappey, Conservative MP for Wells, has told campaigners that he is negotiating with the company on behalf of constituents.
Andrew Pope responds to the two Conservative MPs by saying:
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Andrew Pope
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"Most Somerset MPs, all of whom are Conservative, seem too busy or too ignorant to prioritise our challenges on behalf of Clark's workers.
Somerset Independents and other campaigners have asked Mr Heappey what alternative he suggests to strikes. He previously stated on the BBC that strikes are not the answer. But he does not seem to have any alternative course of action for the workers who are under attack by the owners of Clark's. He claims to be negotiating for them - where are the results of his "negotiations"?
As for Mr Fox - yes, I told that him that Somerset Independents were already aware of these "facts". Mr Fox seems to think it is OK for workers' pay and conditions to be attacked, after management made the wrong strategic decisions for Clark's. It is not the fault of these workers, but they are made to suffer for the management failures. It's not on.
Why do these Tory MPs think this is OK? It just isn't. Fire and Rehire just is not an acceptable way to treat Somerset's workers."
Somerset Independents will continue to challenge the owners and management of Clark's and Somerset's MPs who appear to back this appalling behaviour by Clark's.
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Somerset Independents has been supporting the Clark's employees and their representatives, in their ongoing dispute with the employer, as reported in our article here.
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The Protests at Clark's
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Mendip Trades Union Council (TUC) has asked us to support the Private Members Bill being proposed by Barry Gardiner MP.
Leader of Somerset Independents, Andrew Pope, has responded positively to their request. Andrew says:
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Andrew Pope
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"As I said in my previous statement, Fire and Rehire should not be allowed. I have been of this view ever since I was an employee and union representative in the UNIFI union. Yet despite 13 years of Government, Labour failed to ban it.
Having listened to the views of other Somerset residents and workers, and listened to Mendip TUC's request to support the Bill, Somerset Independents supports the broad aims and objectives of the Bill, but believes that due to flaws in the Bill, that it may lead to unintended consequences such as dismissal without any new contract being offered.
However, on balance, some of the provisions in the Bill are very important, and would help in the dispute at Clark's, so we are asking Somerset's MPs to support the Bill when it is voted on."
