Rhetoric and Reality: The P&O Ferries Scandal and the Right to Strike

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 P&O Ferries under the European Convention on Human Rights. It concludes by identifying a phenomenon of "state-managed deregulation" in the maritime sector, whereby company de-collectivisation is facilitated by the active substitution of collective agreements by minimum wage laws.

Keywords: Freedom of association, collective bargaining, enforcement, trade unions, collective agreements