Strike threat for summer ferries

P&O's pay offer has been rejected by the union

Sea passengers could face a summer of disruption after a seafarers' union ordered a strike ballot over a pay dispute with ferry giant P&O.

Workers are being offered a wage increase of between 1.2% and 1.4%, a figure which the union Numast describes as "derisory".

The union, which wants an improved offer and national pay bargaining, will ballot 600 members later this month.

It is threatening to target crossings in the peak summer period, including the school holidays and sailings during the Euro 2000 football championships in Holland and Belgium next month.

The seafarers' union also plans to lobby the ferry company's AGM in London on Friday, when P&O is expected to announce a significant rise in profits and passengers.

"P&O will present a rosy picture of its trading position to shareholders but it gives a different picture to us," said a union spokesman.

"It is telling us that because it has lost duty-free sales it cannot afford a bigger pay rise."

Talks collapse

The collapse of pay negotiations has been felt throughout P&O Ferries, which is split into different companies for each of its major routes serving Ireland and the Continent.

Numast, which represents more than 18,000 seafarers, said it suspected that P&O's headquarters was dictating terms across the group.

The P&O company on the Dover to Calais route told the BBC that it believed the offer was fair and would be accepted by staff.