The sheikh, the unions and the battle for P&O Ferries
Dubai’s ruler squares up to RMT as staff at company owned by his government are forced off vessels by security
A little over a year ago, the High Court in London delivered its verdict on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. Dubai’s ruler, concluded one of England’s most senior judges, had orchestrated the abductions of two of his children - including one off the streets of Cambridge - and subjected his youngest wife to a campaign of “intimidation”.
On Thursday, a company owned by the Dubai state, over which Sheikh Mohammed presides, effectively sacked 800 British staff from P&O Ferries in an unprecedented act of industrial aggression.
P&O’s ferry operation was shut down with immediate effect, leaving passengers stranded, while security guards, trained in the use of handcuffs, were sent aboard ships to remove any mutineering British crew.
One senior MP suggested on Thursday night that the 72-year-old sheikh, once a close friend of the Queen but his reputation now shredded by an English court, may have a “beef against the UK”. P&O’s beleaguered, bewildered workforce might just agree.
P&O Ferries fell prey to the whims of its Dubai overlords after it was bought by DP World, an Emirati logistics company, for £322m in 2019.
DP World is in turn owned by Dubai World, a global holding company for all manner of investments.
Dubai World boasts on its website of its commitment “to generating value for our shareholder, the Government of Dubai, with a corporate philosophy in line with the vision set for Dubai by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai”.
That philosophy, it helpfully added, is “based on sustainability, best ethical practices and integrity”.
In the Commons, MPs decried Dubai’s manouverings.
“The villain in all of this is P&O and their parent company, DP World, a company owned by anti-trade union oligarchs in Dubai who have a shockingly bad track record in employment relations," said Gavin Newlands, the SNP’s transport spokesman. Downing Street condemned P&O’s actions.
Chris Bryant, Labour MP on the foreign affairs committee, told the Telegraph: “It feels like the Sheikh has a beef against the UK, but this is no way to treat ordinary workers. There is quite a queue for pariah states at the moment, and he wouldn’t want to be edging up to the front.”
Sir Roger Gale, Conservative MP for North Thanet, was scathing of a sheikh, ordered to pay £550m to his ex-wife Princess Haya in December.
Much of the money was to be used by the princess to protect herself and their two children, against “the grave risk” posed to them by the sheikh himself.
Details of allegations made against the sheikh, which he denied, were disclosed in a bruising lengthy divorce battle, played out in the English courts.
Sir Roger said on Thursday: "This is why Sheikh Mohammed is so unpopular anyway. Because he is an arrogant man. And an extremely unpleasant man.”
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"We’ve already been replaced. The new foreign workers are already on board.
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“Clearly the company has been planning this behind our backs for a very long time.”
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After that came the security guards, brought in by P&O to remove staff occupying its ferries.
They had been waiting in the wings, it is claimed, before going aboard. In an urgent press release, Mick Lynch, the RMT’s general secratry, said: “We are receiving reports that security guards at Dover are seeking to board ships with handcuffs to remove crew so they can be replaced with cheaper labour.”
The security guards had been recruited for a “fairly high profile” job just days earlier, according to an email seen by The Telegraph and circulated in a security company.
By Thursday evening, crews had left their ships, their futures unknown.
P&O and Dubai’s ruling sheikh, had, for now at least, got their way. Its ships won’t be running “over the next few days”.
