800 workers dismissed on the spot and replaced with cheaper labour. Handcuff-trained security guards ready to remove seafarers from the ships that they had crewed for years. A bad boss brazenly admitting to breaking employment law because he could get away with it. This isn’t a story from 200 years ago or 2,000 miles away – but just two months ago and on our shores, when P&O Ferries dismissed its workforce with immediate effect by video call and text message.
Whilst this behaviour was shocking, it was not surprising to those of us well versed in the UK’s employment law framework. Bad practice is commonplace: just look at the way the cast and crew of Cinderella were treated this month, informed minutes before the press that the curtain would be falling in June. Actors who had clinched roles for the musical’s second year and had foregone other employment opportunities found out by press release. In the university sector, the creeping casualisation of work has undermined pay and conditions for teaching staff, forcing them to re-apply each year for nine-month contracts despite having 12 months of living costs to meet.
It is true that the government has announced pay protection reforms to ensure maritime workers docking at UK ports are paid at least the minimum wage. But these reforms come too late for the illegally sacked workers, and nothing the government has done gets to the heart of the issue: another P&O or a variant is not just possible but likely. The absence...
President Lee Jae-myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on October 13. President Lee Jae-myung called for a stern response to the spread of false information regarding eggs rece...