We need to make an example of heartless P&O chiefs
I have rarely been so shocked by the callousness of the powerful than I have in recent weeks.
The widely reported scandal surrounding P&O workers at ports across Britain has blown the facade wide open that there is fairness in the workplace in our country.
And 800 employees of the ferry company, who employ a considerable number of staff at nearby Cairnryan, were unceremoniously sacked across the UK and replaced with workers on pay below the minimum wage.
This was a shameful and blatant attempt to the bypass basic standards most large companies and small businesses are bound by and I believe they are exploiting a loophole that any sensible and just country would close.
At Westminster and Holyrood P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite admitted that the firm knowingly broke the law during the process by not consulting with unions and simply planning to compensate workers instead.
His blunt openness about this fact makes it clear that we are now at a point where some companies are not only mistreating workers but they are happy to accept they broke the law and imagine they will escape accountability.
If you or I flagrantly commit crimes we can expect serious consequences but for those at the top it appears to just be a hazard of doing business that they need not concern themselves with.
I have met so many hard working business owners who have gone out of their way to do right by their staff during the pandemic and beyond.
We need to make a serious example of P&O, not only for workers across the country, but to show those who do the right thing that their efforts have not gone to waste.
Enough is enough.