Talk:Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company

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would anyone be horribly upset if moved this to P&O? Morwen - Talk 06:29, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Seagoing Staff

Have removed this entire section from the article...

The seagoing staff at P&O were never treated as the office staff in London would have treated their own. On many ships the principle ingredient of the traditional Sunday curry lunch was chicken necks. Only the senior offices got breast or leg. Stories abounded of Christmas cruise ships "at the equator" that never got there, but instead circled the ocean in mid-sea elsewhere while the Captain anounced the "crossing of the line" to the fare-paying customers. Dictats from London became more frequent, and staff were not even allowed to buy their own pencils locally (in case they stole the cash), instead pencils were airfreighted out from London. The final straw came when standard contracts were removed and the crew placed on uncertain "overseas" contracts. The crews left on-masse.

P&O was one of the greatest shipping companies. It was destroyed by the shore-based staff.

Staff who worked for P&O were constantly misled and betrayed. On one occaision a Director flew out from London to persuade staff not to go on strike. Senior officers were threatened with the sack if they didn't withdraw their votes for a strike. We were assured that the six ships (the StrathE's) had an assured future.

Six weeks later they sold them.

Liars.

...on the basis that it breaches NPOV, doesn't cite sources, and also doesn't make any chronoligical sense in relation to the rest of the artcile. I think perhaps an expert on P&O's history (which I am not) should wikify this section into a heading such as "Controversy over Staff Treatment." Otherwise it shoudl be left out entirely. A1octopus 15:05, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 2.3 - 2.5 - not neutral, not even a professional tone

The subsections on ships, mergers and staffs (2.3 - 2.5) need particular attention to remove the NPOV.

The wording of this criticism of P&O is out of order, but the general synopsis of the treatment of its staff may have some merit.

The handling of the closure of 2 of the Portsmouth Western Channel services was not very impressive. A recent journey on P&O's only surviving West service suggests staff have- rightly or wrongly- a grievance with the company.

P&O are no longer the same people as once they were

[edit] Apologies

Yes, apologies, got a little carried away there.

"On many ships the principle ingredient of the traditional Sunday curry lunch was chicken necks. Only the senior offices got breast or leg."

Reference: Any Officers who sailed on the Vendee and Vosges during their charter to Carmel on the Ashdod to Marseilles run.

Perhaps "many" should be replaced with "some". Other ex-staff should be able to confirm this. In addition Officers were so hungry that they would raid the galley at night to cook chips. This resulted in the galley being locked (against fire regulations) because staff were "stealing potatoes".

"On one occaision a Director flew out from London to persuade staff not to go on strike. Senior officers were threatened with the sack if they didn't withdraw their votes for a strike."

Reference: This should appear in the Union (then MNAOA) journals. A Union meeting was held to decide whether staff could change their votes. It was agreed by a majority that they could not. The staff involved telegrammed the Union to change their votes anyway. This took place (IIRC) at Port Said prior to a southbound transit of the Suez Canal.

Hope this helps a little.