SHORE staff who have lost their jobs at Newhaven will miss out on an £18,000 pay-off, the Argus can reveal.

P&O Stena workers in Dieppe have been offered the redundancy lump sum after the ferry firm decided to axe is service on the cross-channel route.

But workers in Newhaven will be told that they are to receive no more than a quarter of that amount.

The deal for the French workers was hammered out by French union CGT in the wake of P&O Stena's announcement that the service will end on January 31.

The deal offers the 68 shore staff in Dieppe the one-off payment alongside their statutory redundancy pay.

British union bosses are to meet with P&O Stena managers on Monday.

Rick Justham, from British maritime union TSSA, will try to negotiate a deal with ferry firm bosses for the 80 shore staff in Newhaven.

He said: "I'm looking for P&O Stena to provide an equal settlement for both French and UK workers. It is important that there is an identical settlement for Newhaven."

But union bosses say a similar deal for Newhaven workers would be unprecedented.

Maritime union NUMAST recently negotiated for 30 crew members of the Elite fast craft service from Newhaven to Dieppe to be redeployed to other routes.

The service was axed by P&O Stena last November.

Andrew Linington, from NUMAST, said: "I would be very surprised if British workers would get any were near that amount. It's possible they may get a few thousand.

"But the only circumstances for the kind of deal the French have secured would be exceptional - extremely long service, for example."

He added that during the 1980s the Government abandoned central bargaining for unions, leaving workers to discuss deals at a local level.

French unions, however, still have more power to bargain directly with their Government.

He said: "Workers in the shipping industry in particular now have tougher contracts where strike action can end in redundancy and they are left with inferior bargaining power."

ANewhaven-based P&O Stena staff member, who preferred not to be named, said: "I'm gobsmacked by the French deal.

"That is a great deal and I'd be delighted if we got that but I would be very surprised.

"I think £4,000 would be the most any of us could seriously expect."

Under current UK employment laws, workers, on permanent contracts are entitled to a minimum redundancy of two weeks pay for every year worked.

But P&O Stena is remaining tight-lipped as to what the British workers can expect.

Chris Laming, spokesman for P&O Stena, said: "We are still in the middle of our ongoing negotiations.

"It is a private matter between the unions, the staff and ourselves."

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