- Hezbollah strikes Israel, says it foiled Israeli incursions
- Jurgen Klopp to return as head of Red Bull football operations
- Sinner to face Medvedev in Shanghai Masters quarter-finals
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Record-breaking Root guides England to 232-2 in reply to Pakistan's 556
- Japan PM dissolves parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- Goodbye Tito? Tomb at risk as Serbs argue over Yugoslav legacy
- Restoration experts piece together silent Sherlock Holmes mystery
- Sinner avoids Shanghai deja vu with assured Shelton win
- Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea
- Trumpet star Marsalis says jazz creates 'balance' in divided world
- No children left on Greece's famed but emptying island
- Nepali becomes youngest to climb world's 8,000m peaks
- Climate change made deadly Hurricane Helene more intense: study
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Padres edge Dodgers, Mets on the brink
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- With EU funding, Tunisian farmer revives parched village
- Sega ninja game 'Shinobi' gets movie treatment
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- Three million UK children living below poverty line: study
- China's Jia brings film spanning love, change over decades to Busan
- Paying out disaster relief before climate catastrophe strikes
- Chinese shares drop on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- SE Asian summit seeks progress on Myanmar civil war
- How climate funds helped Peru's women beekeepers stay afloat
- Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded as wars rage
- Pacific island nations swamped by global drug trade
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- Mozambique elects new president in tense vote
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Balkan summit to rally support for struggling Ukraine
- New stadium gives Real Madrid a headache
- Alonso, Manaea shine as 'Miracle Mets' blitz Phillies
- Harris, Trump trade blows in US election media blitz
- Harry's Bar in Paris drinks to US straw-poll centenary
- Osama bin Laden's son Omar banned from returning to France
- Afghan man arrested for plotting US election day attack
- Brazil lifts ban on Musk's X, ending standoff over disinformation
- Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- Chelsea edge Real Madrid in Women's Champions League, Lyon win
- Japan PM to dissolve parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- 'Diego Lives': Immersive Maradona exhibit hits Barcelona
- Brazil Supreme Court lifts ban on Musk's X
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Six-year-old girl among missing after Brazil landslide
Protests in Britain over shock P&O job cuts
Protests were held on Friday in the English port cities of Dover, Hull and Liverpool, a day after the sudden dismissal of 800 employees by shipping operator P&O Ferries.
On the south coast in Dover, angry demonstrators chanted "save our seafarers," "stop the dismantling of jobs at P&O" and "resist all job cuts".
P&O Ferries, which is owned by Dubai's DP World, prompted outcry from trade unions and politicians on Thursday when the loss-making group axed 800 jobs with immediate effect to save cash, citing its unviable finances.
Unions slammed the decision and revealed that P&O had encouraged staff to re-apply for agency work under what they described as a "fire and rehire" policy.
The news also prompted widespread protests on Thursday, with personnel refusing to leave company facilities and ships.
Images have since emerged of security guards scaling P&O ships to remove staff who were outraged over the dismissals.
Transport Minister Grant Shapps said he was "shocked and dismayed by the insensitive and brutal treatment" of P&O's employees who were "dismissed via a pre-recorded Zoom video, with only 30 minutes of notice".
"This is no way to treat employees in the 21st century" he said at a Conservative Party conference in Blackpool.
P&O Ferries was badly hit over the last two years by the Covid pandemic, which ravaged the travel sector with multiple lockdowns and travel restrictions.
The group had already announced the dismissal of 1,100 employees in May 2020, in an effort to make the company viable and sustainable during the Covid crisis.
At the time P&O received emergency funding from the government –- as well as receiving furlough support to help pay wages.
A Downing Street spokesperson said Friday that the government "takes this issue very seriously", indicating that such company behaviour is only tolerable "in extreme circumstances" – provided that all other options, including negotiations, have failed.
"We don't believe this was the case for P&O staff, but we are looking into this very carefully before setting our final view," the spokesperson added.
P&O, which operates four routes serving Britain, France, Ireland and the Netherlands, has suspended passenger and freight ships since Thursday.
S.F.Warren--AMWN