Via Zoom, 800 employees of the British company P&O Ferries have been informed that they are losing their jobs.
The ferry management company claimed it was a "difficult decision" but one that was necessary for the "viability of the business."
The idea of the company making hundreds of their employees redundant via Zoom has sparked anger and outrage among staff.[A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE COMPANY WAS EVEN QUICK TO CLARIFY THAT THEIR DISMISSAL IS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.
"Today is your last day at work," the P&O Ferries executive announced in the recorded message sent to employees via Zoom.
There was no further communication verbally or in writing through P&O Ferries, according to the British press.
In its decision, the company claimed it was a "difficult decision" but one that was necessary for the "viability of the business".
According to the British newspaper Daily Mail, a video showing an executive of P&O Ferries, a British ferry company operating on the Dover Calais ferry route, announcing collective redundancies via a taped video call is making the rounds on the internet.
The company's move has provoked a strong reaction with some seafarers refusing to leave the ships.
The RMT union has denounced that the place of the sailors who lost their jobs will be taken by foreign workers with much lower wages.
P&O has informed passengers that its services will be interrupted "in the next few days" with passengers being asked to use other ferries.
The development has caused problems on the Dover-Calais ferry service, with lorries forming queues, according to a report in the British newspaper the Telegraph.
"In its current form, P&O Ferries is not viable. We have had losses of £100 million a year, which have been covered by our parent company DP World. This is not sustainable. Without the changes we have decided there would be no future for P&O Ferries," the British company's statement said, among other things.
However, according to the RMT union, staff from a private security company have been sent on board a ship anchored in Northern Ireland to remove seafarers who refuse to leave.
Source: protothema.gr
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