P&O Ferries has said the 'difficult decision' to sack 800 staff on the spot was made as a 'last resort' - and again insisted the business would not have survived otherwise.
Written jointly with business minister Paul Scully, it reads:"We are writing to you to express, in the strongest possible terms, the UK government's anger and disappointment at the way that P&O Ferried handled the redundancy of so many of your staff this week.
The letter adds that the Insolvency Service has been asked to look into whether rules employers must follow when making large groups of staff redundant were adhered to by P&O bosses. Acknowledging her counterpart's error, Labour's transport secretary Louise Haigh posted on social media:"What an absolute shambles.
Demonstrations were also held at ports in Liverpool, Hull and Larne in Northern Ireland, and outside the London head office of owners DP World, amid growing anger at the sudden sacking of staff with no notice. In a new statement, the travel company said it"understood" the"distress" its decision will have caused and felt that"reaching agreement on the way forward" was"impossible".
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