Carnival UK Abandons Controversial Negotiation Tactic

Carnival UK has ended its appeal to a contentious tactic dubbed “fire-and-rehire” amidst negotiations on crew salaries and working conditions. This move, affecting over 900 crew members, came after urgent talks with Nautilus, a maritime professionals' union.

Both parties announced they have discarded this approach and are pursuing a cooperative resolution. Nautilus’ Martyn Gray expressed relief at Carnival’s decision, seeing it as a sign of good faith in negotiating terms for the 919 impacted crew members. Nonetheless, he voiced that such drastic methods to enforce contract changes should be prohibited by UK governance.

While dismissing and rehiring staff isn't against UK law, it's generally a last resort, subject to stringent procedures. Employers making 20 or more redundancies within a 90-day span must consult with staffers and unions first.

Nautilus had previously discovered Carnival was contemplating "fire-and-rehire" to enforce cuts in hours and wages for workers on 10 ships, including Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary 2. Their evidence was a Form H1 which implied that termination and re-engagement might be used if new contract terms were rejected.

P&O Cruises and Cunard owner Carnival negated plans for such measures, affirming no job cuts were intended, and emphasized that the reported HR1 form submission has been withdrawn.