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P&O ferries, business and human rights: what's in our arsenal?
PROFESSOR KEITH EWING looks at how international laws that cover the human rights of the workforce may work in the labour movement's favour in light of the shock mass sacking of 800 seafarers
People take part in a demonstration against the dismissal of P&O workers organised by the RMT union at the terminal in Cairnryan, Dumfries and Galloway, after the ferry giant handed 800 seafarers immediate severance notices, Wednesday March 23, 2022

TODAY the House of Commons select committee on business, energy, innovation and skills (BEIS) begins an inquiry into the P&O Ferries scandal, jointly with the select committee on transport.

This should provide an opportunity for corporate executives to account publicly for their decisions and their alleged failure to comply with various legal standards, most notably the failure to inform and consult the trade unions of their decision to dismiss workers for reasons of redundancy.

But it will also provide an opportunity for the committees to hear from both the government and the company about other matters, not least the implementation and application of the human rights principles by which companies are supposed to be bound.

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