On 17 March, P&O Ferries employees in the UK arrived at work to the news they had been made redundant. Without any warning, 800 people were unemployed. Among them were Lee and Adele (not their real names). Like their colleagues, they were told in the same video message that their careers with P&O Ferries were terminated. The pair tell Nosheen Iqbal of their shock and distress as they faced not just the loss of their livelihoods, but a job they loved and colleagues that felt like family.
The Guardian business reporter Joanna Partridge tells Nosheen that loopholes in the laws governing international shipping firms appear to have allowed P&O Ferries to skirt around UK employment law and avoid paying new agency workers the UK minimum wage.
As protests continue at P&O Ferries ports and its passenger ferry services remain disrupted, there has been a renewed push to get the company back to the negotiating table, with the government promising legislation to close the employment loophole that P&O Ferries were able to use to cut its staffing costs.
Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
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