“it should concern us all when we see Labour Party figures closely connected to the party leadership choosing to publicly attack the New Deal for Working People”
Jon Trickett MP
By Jon Trickett MP
It’s been two years since the P&O scandal. Nothing has changed.
In March 2022, P&O Ferries sacked 786 seafarers on the spot. No negotiations. No consultations. One day the workers based in Dover, Hull, Liverpool and Cairnryan turned up to work and were told they no longer had a job.
The sacked workers were thrown on the scrap heap in the middle of a cost of living crisis and left to fend for themselves in the brutal British welfare system.
P&O claimed they drastically needed to reduce their wage bill so chose to get rid of their British workforce and replace it with workers from abroad on lower wages. What they didn’t say is that their Dubai based parent company, DP World, paid out £270 million to shareholders the previous year. In a world where profit is King and rights are few, there was little to stop the company from taking the actions they did.
This incident reflects the dire state of UK employment rights and should’ve ushered in a sea change (excuse the pun) in industrial legislation. Despite P&O admitting they consciously acted illegally, the government has applied no sanction to the company. P&O got away with it.
The scandal caused uproar across the country as millions of workers realised that if this could happen to the seafarers then it could also happen to me. Public outcry forced the Conservatives to be seen to take action, but the government’s response has been feeble to say the least. No punishments. No new employment rights to make sure this cannot happen again.
Instead they introduced a weak code of practice that imposes minimal costs on employers for using ‘fire and rehire’ tactics; and a seafarers’ welfare charter that isn’t even mandatory and can simply be ignored by employers. Seafarers unions including the RMT and Nautilus called the reforms “paltry”.
There is a simple reason for the Conservative’s inaction – they believe employers should have the right to sack their staff with no questions asked. At heart, they do not believe in workers’ rights. Every time they’ve entered office they’ve torn up employment laws and imposed new draconian legislation to limit the ability of trade unions to defend working people. Since 2022, the Conservatives have actually introduced even more authoritarian anti-trade union legislation to restrict the right to strike. As a result, the seafaring community, in fact all British workers, remain at risk from exploitative corporations with carte blanche to attack their workforces with impunity.
Labour is committed to changing this and our party must not take any more steps back on the New Deal for Working People.
This package of employment rights policies has undergone several iterations in recent years, but is an attempt to address the structural unfairness and inequality that exists in Britain’s workplaces. At its core are pledges to strengthen rights at work from day one on the job; end fire and rehire; ban zero hour contracts; repeal anti-trade union legislation since 2010 and replace it with strengthened trade union laws.
I make no secret of the fact that I think a Labour government should go further than this. I’d like to see the original pledges to introduce sectoral collective bargaining and to create a single status of ‘worker’ honoured. These are the surest ways to drive up standards across industries, especially those where insecure work has become the norm.
I’d also like to see our party restate the original commitment that any new legislation will make sure the UK complies with the UK’s treaty obligations as supervised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
However, the current New Deal for Working People document remains a significant shift from the existing employment rights framework that has dominated for decades. Labour adopted this policy because of many years of campaigning and organising by the Labour Left and trade unions.
Therefore, it should concern us all when we see Labour Party figures closely connected to the party leadership choosing to publicly attack the New Deal for Working People. It has become clear that an alliance of corporate lobbyists, right wing newspapers and Labour insiders are trying to pressure Labour’s leadership to abandon these policies.
We cannot allow this to happen. Everyone who believes in consigning incidents like the P&O scandal to the dustbin of history, should raise their voices in defence of the ‘New Deal’. We must not take one step backwards on workers’ rights.
Those who would weaken or nullify the commitment to a New Deal for Working People would do well to remind themselves of the founding resolution of the Labour Party in 1900:
‘This conference is in favour of working class opinion being represented in the House of Commons by men sympathetic with the aims and demands of the Labour movement.’
Working class opinion is clear in its support for change. A Labour government must deliver it.
- Jon Trickett is the MP for Hemsworth and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow him on Facebook, Instagram and twitter.
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