Bulletin #15
March 18, 2022
BCFMWU STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH OUR ITF AFFILIATED
NAUTILUS AND RMT WORKERS “SACKED” FROM P&O FERRIES
You may have heard or read in the news that P&O Ferries has immediately made redundant or “fired” 800 of their workers. P&O Ferries’ parent company, DP World, operates in Canada and boasts DP World’s coast-to-coast Canadian footprint which includes terminal operations in Vancouver, Surrey, Prince Rupert, Saint John’s, and most recently Nanaimo. Current crews have been removed from P&O ships by an outside security firm with ski masks and hand cuffs in favour of bus loads of cheaper foreign crews.
It is common theory P&O Ferries’ decision to sack 800 workers in favour of cheaper labour came about because the Irish Ferries entered into the Dover – Calais Route, taking P&O’s market share. The Irish Ferries had already sacked their local workers in 2005 in a process that also involved security firms. The term “globalization” is easily summed up into the actions of greedy owners and operators, whose main goal is to reduce wages and working conditions to the lowest common denominator.
P&O actions likely resonate our own experiences when BCFMWU members were illegally laid off at the start of the pandemic, which the employer boasted in their 2020/2021 Annual Report on page 22.
$38.3 million decrease in labour costs mainly due to staffing level changes for reduced round trips provided, reduced overtime, reduced training and lower benefit usage, somewhat offset by a wage rate increase of 1.9% effective April 1, 2020 in accordance with the Collective Agreement;
If we are called into action to support our affiliate members, please bear into mind history surrounding employer greed.
While at the time of writing this, there is no action call to disrupt service at DP World facilities, we stand by in solidarity in the event there is.
In Solidarity,
Dan Kimmerly
To view as a pdf: Bulletin #15 BCFMWU Stands in Solidarity with our ITF Affiliated Workers Sacked from P&O Ferries