We’ve been away for the last few days and this release below came in from Wightlink during that period. We’re expecting to hear later this morning whether the RMT have decided to call off the strike, as requested by the sacked employee who it was called for in the first instance. It’s in Wightlink’s words – Ed
Following the Notice of Industrial Action issued yesterday Thursday by the RMT which informed Wightlink that their members would be instructed not to work on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day we have been developing our contingency plans to ensure our customers are able to get to their destinations and enjoy Christmas with their families with minimum disruption to their journey.
As soon as our plans have been completed we will publish them and ensure we contact as many passengers as possible to advise them of their alternatives, which include transferring to alternative Wightlink sailings, Red Funnel or Hovercraft, amendment to a different date or a full refund.
Finalising alternative service
We are very close to finalising plans to ensure we are able to offer close to a full alternative passenger service on our Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde route and we are in the process of obtaining final legal advice to ensure these plans cannot be disrupted.
Russell Kew Chief Executive said “I would personally like to apologise to all of our customers who are likely to be affected by the strike called by the RMT.”
“Will not compromise on safety”
“However I hope our customers understand that as a company we cannot and will not compromise on safety and in this case the dispute has been caused by the dismissal of an employee, who was an RMT Representative, on the grounds that his actions were a flagrant disregard of Health and Safety regulations likely to endanger himself.
“Unfortunately once the dates of the strike were announced by the union the majority of our customers who had bookings immediately phoned in to cancel or transfer their booking.”
“Lost several hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of business”
He continued, “Those who were thinking of travelling have clearly been put off booking with Wightlink because of the uncertainty surrounding their Christmas travel plans.
“Because of this the company has lost several hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of business and the only way we could mitigate substantial loss was to reluctantly make the decision that we would be unable to run our normal business due to the continuing strike action and we would therefore have to suspend the service.
Pay will be deducted
We have also given notice that pay will be deducted from all Portsmouth based seagoing employees. By taking this action we have been able to reduce our payroll and fuel costs to reduce the substantial loss the company has suffered as a result of the RMT’s strike notice.”
We will keep you informed of developments.
Image: Fareham College
