What internal comms can learn from ‘inhumane’ mass layoff of UK ship workers

Last week, UK shipping company P&O Ferries laid off 800 ship staff with no notice, informing some of the employees in person and others via Zoom meetings.

Public outcry ensued, with many workers and families taking to the streets in English port cities to protest the move.

“After that two to three-minute call all the crew were made redundant,” Gary Jackson, an officer and a member of Britain’s largest transport trade union, told the BBC. “I’ve seen grown men crying on there because they don’t know where they’re going to go from today.”

The New York Times reports:

In an email to staff members on Thursday, Peter Hebblethwaite, P&O’s chief executive, said that the company was reducing its crewing costs by 50 percent to set the business up for growth. He said that P&O Ferries had entered a new partnership with an international crewing company, and that crew members from that company would staff ships affected by the change.