Outrage as P&O Ferries owner in major infrastructure project

The move has sparked outrage following P&O Ferries’ decision to dismiss around 800 of their UK-based crew members by zoom call in March last year, replacing them with cheaper agency staff, without due consultation.

Owner DP World has been approved to co-run the Thames Freeport in Essex, a contract which the government said would "help grow the economy".

The government confirmed to the BBC that it had recently approved the plans, and that it would be run by a partnership between DP World, Ford and Forth Ports.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) called the government’s decision "appalling" for choosing to "reward DP World with another bumper deal".

Read more: Demand for temporary staff continues to rise

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said in a statement that ministers should have "stripped the company of all its public contracts and severed commercial ties" after the P&O sackings.

"But the government has chosen instead to reward DP World with another bumper deal. This is giving a green light to other rogue employers to act with impunity."

In January, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps introduced rules to crack down on employers using controversial "fire and rehire" tactics  to stop another P&O-style scandal from happening.

Fire and rehire, or “termination and re-engagement”, is the practice of dismissing employees with notice before offering to re-employ them immediately after termination, often on less generous terms. 

Read more: Managers finding the office a lonely place post-pandemic

While fire and rehire is lawful in the UK, the move is widely condemned as it’s seen as intimidating to employees, pressuring them to sign up to less favourable terms in a short space of time for fear of losing their jobs.

The government have now published a draft code of practice to strengthen workers’ rights and crack down on unscrupulous employers that use controversial dismissal tactics.

Courts are to be given power to apply a 25% uplift to an employee’s compensation in certain circumstances if an employer doesn’t follow the new code.