Freight News, Sea


Union refuses to sit at table with P&O Ferries personnel

[ September 26, 2025   //   ]

The RMT seafarer’s union is refusing to sit on the National Maritime Occupational Health and Safety Committee (NMOHSC) because it believes that there is an attempt to bring back former chair, P&O Ferries head of fleet safety, Grant Laversuch.

In an open letter, RMT said that the NMOHSC had been chaired by Grant Laversuch, adding: “Although he stepped down as the P&O scandal unfolded, we believe there is an attempt to bring him and potentially others back into the fold. “

RMT points out that, in March 2022, “P&O Ferries carried out a brazen and unlawful attack on UK seafarers, sacking nearly 800 skilled crew and replacing them with agency labour” and that a civil investigation by the Insolvency Service, launched in April 2022, is still ongoing.

The letter also stated: “We are also now seeing other P&O officials hold influential positions within the Chamber of Shipping. Louisa Bell, now P&O’s managing director, has been appointed chair of the Ferry and Cruise Panel, which will shape secondary regulations for the mandatory Seafarers’ Charter.

“And P&O’s chief financial officer, Jonathan Campbell, chairs the Chamber’s International Trade and Taxation Committee, which covers tonnage tax, “competitiveness” and policies directly affecting seafarers’ terms and conditions.

“With P&O’s auditors KPMG resigning earlier this year, this appointment is not only worrying but absurd.”

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