[1andrew1]

Owners not too in touch with British public opinion!

Dubai owner of P&O Ferries hails management’s ‘amazing job’ over sackings

DP World head praises UK chief for ‘saving’ company as he insists ‘nobody was hurt’

The head of the Dubai-based group that owns P&O Ferries has insisted it is too late to reverse the decision to sack 800 sailors as he praised its management for doing an “amazing job” in restructuring the UK company.

Speaking to the Financial Times on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the chair and chief executive of DP World, expressed irritation at the way the UK government turned on P&O after the company announced in March that it would dismiss 800 workers without consultation.

Sulayem said the decision was taken by the P&O board without input from its Dubai parent, and the move could not be reversed.

“We said many times, [the UK government] can’t do anything now because [the P&O decision] is in the past,” he said, stressing the company’s defence that its available options were to switch to a cheaper workforce or cease operating.

“Peter [Hebblethwaite, P&O chief executive] has done an amazing job because he managed to save the company instead of 3,000 people [being] out of a job,” Sulayem said.

https://www.ft.com/content/be0734b3-...f-a631d664e862