P&O staff have been treated disgracefully – the government must act

Government ministers have lined up to condemn P&O Ferries for the “appalling”, “brutal” and “completely unacceptable” way in which it sacked 800 workers, intending to replace them with cheaper foreign agency staff. When a Conservative government expresses itself so forcefully, it is apparent that the company’s behaviour goes well beyond the normal differences of opinion about employment ethics.

The evident anger of Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, and Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, not to mention Robert Courts, the junior transport minister hauled to the House of Commons on Thursday to account for the government, echoes the sentiment of Edward Heath, the Conservative prime minister, when he described the sharp business practices of Tiny Rowland as “the unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism” in 1973.

The abrupt and callous way in which P&O’s workers have been treated crosses a moral threshold, whether or not it is illegal. Presumably the company thinks it can defend itself in court, although on the face of things it seems to have broken the law on redundancies. Either way, the company is guilty of exceptionally poor management.

This is no way to run a shipping business. Plainly, the passenger ferry market is in a terrible state, as are many travel industries as a result of the disruption of the pandemic. It would be understandable if the company needed to reduce its workforce and cut its labour costs, but it looks like incompetence for its managers to have allowed the situation to come to such a sudden crisis.

And it looks short-sighted if not counterproductive to have acted in such a cruel way, inflicting unnecessary humiliation on staff, some of whom have worked for the company for years. The company’s conduct has inflicted unnecessary damage on P&O’s reputation. Calls for boycotts of its services are as justified as they were predictable. Who, if they had a choice, would want to travel with a company that treats its workers so badly?

It may not be that the company would care, but its conduct has also inflicted unnecessary damage on the reputation of capitalism. Most employers seek to treat their employees well, not just because it is right but because it is in the interest of their bottom line. Workers who are treated with respect are more productive and therefore more profitable.

Contrary to the kind of punk Marxism that is still inexplicably fashionable in some quarters, there is no necessary conflict between the interests of labour and capital: good businesses tend to be good employers, sharing the benefits of their success with owners, employees and customers.

Of course, the government has a role in setting the rules and minimum standards. If those were broken in P&O’s case, the company must expect to feel the full force of society’s disapproval through the law. If the company has somehow found a way around the legal protections that any civilised society would expect, the government must act with due haste to close that loophole. Whatever happens, the disgraceful way that P&O staff have been treated cannot be allowed to stand.