Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal
Abstract
This article considers the freedom of association implications of the mass dismissals at P&O Ferries in 2022, in light of the Committee on Freedom of Association’s recent consideration of a complaint by affected trade unions. It identifies an important strategic shift in British trade unions’ engagement with legal enforcement. This involves an attenuation of the strong historical attachment to “voluntarism” in British industrial relations. It then considers some legal implications of the P&O Ferries scandal under the European Convention on Human Rights. It concludes by identifying a phenomenon of “state-managed deregulation” in the maritime sector, whereby company de-collectivization is facilitated by the active substitution of collective agreements by minimum wage laws.
Recommended Citation
Bogg, Alan
(2025)
"Rhetoric and Reality: The P&O Ferries Scandal and the Right to Strike,"
Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal: Vol. 45:
Iss.
2, Article 9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2819-2567.1041
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cllpj/vol45/iss2/9
References
Ashiagbor, D. (2015). Evaluating the reflexive turn in labour law. In A. Bogg, C. Costello, A. C. L. Davies, & J. Prassl (Eds.), The autonomy of labour law (pp. 123-148). Hart.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Polity Press.
Bogg, A. (2016). Beyond neo-liberalism: The Trade Union Act 2016 and the authoritarian state. Industrial Law Journal 45(3), 299-336. https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dww023
Bogg, A. (2020). Employment status in the social democratic constitution: Law and politics. In A. Bogg, J. Rowbottom, & A. L. Young (Eds.), The constitution of social democracy: Essays in honour of Keith Ewing. Hart. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509916603
Bogg, A. (2022a). Labor constitutionalism: Effective judicial protection as a constitutional principle in United Kingdom labour law. Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal 43(1), 45.
Bogg, A. (2022b). Taking the rule of law seriously: The P&O Ferries scandal and the need for a Labour Enforcement Act. In Building worker power: Essays on collective rights 20 years after the Wilson and Palmer Case established the right to be represented by a trade union (pp. 16-19). TUC. https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/building-worker-power?page=4
Bogg, A. (2023). The right to strike, minimum service levels, and European values, SSRN Working Paper. Available athttps://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4410323; https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4410323
Creighton, B., Denvir, C., Johnstone, R., McCrystal, S., &Orchiston, A. (2020). Strike ballots, democracy and the law. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198869894.003.0001
Department for Transport. (2023, July 24). The seafarer's charter. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-seafarers-charter
Department for Transport and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. (2022, May 10). Seafarer minimum wage laws set sail. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/seafarerminimum-wage-laws-set-sail
Dias-Abey, M. (2023). Legal mobilisation and identity formation in British trade unions: Bridging the spaces in-between. In S. A. Boutcher, C. S. Shdaimah, & M. W. Yarbough (Eds.), Research handbook on law, movements and social change (pp. 286-299). Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789907674.00028
Dukes, R. (2015). Wedderburn and the theory of labour law: Building on Kahn-Freund, Industrial Law Journal 44(3), 357-384. https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwv015
Flanders, A. D. (2009). The tradition of voluntarism. British Journal of Industrial Relations 12(3), 352-370. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1974.tb00012.x
Katsaroumpas, I. (2024). Authoritarian liquid transgressions: The case of P&O Ferries. Journal of Law and Society 51(2), 263-289. https://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12477
Lewis, R. (1979). Kahn-Freund and labour law: An outline critique. Industrial Law Journal 8(1), 202-221. https://doi.org/10.1093/ilj/8.1.202
Mantouvalou, V. (2023). Structural injustice and workers' rights. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192857156.001.0001
Novitz, T. (2002). A revised role for trade unions as designed by new labour: The representation pyramid and 'Partnership.'" Journal of Law and Society 29(3), 487-509. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6478.00229
Rimi, A. (2022, March 21). P&O using foreign agency workers 'earning £1.81 an hour' after 800 UK staff sacked. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/p-oferries-rmt-union-workers-sacked-b2040443.html
Trades Union Congress (TUC). (2023, November 10). UN workers' rights watchdog rebukes UK Government over failures on P&O Ferries scandal. https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/unworkers-rights-watchdog-rebukes-uk-government-over-failures-po-ferries-scandal
Wedderburn, B. (1995). Labour law and freedom: Further essays in labour law. Lawrence & Wishart.
Wilson, A. (1984). Contract and prerogative: A reconsideration of the legal enforcement of collective agreements. Industrial Law Journal 13(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1093/ilj/13.1.1