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- Cruise crew members are accusing Carnival UK of threatening to "fire and rehire" 919 of them.
- A maritime union said Carnival UK filed a notice of mass layoffs as it was negotiating pay cuts.
- The union said it was similar to a 2022 scandal where another cruise company replaced workers with underpaid foreign workers.
UK cruise giant Carnival has been accused by union employees of threatening to fire more than 900 crew members if they don't take pay cuts as high as 20%.
Nautilus International, a trade union representing the maritime workers, on Thursday said Carnival UK was indicating amid negotiations that it wanted to "fire and rehire" 919 employees.
The accusation references a previous scandal involving another cruise company, P&O Ferries. Unions said P&O Ferries fired 800 workers in 2022 without notice, and replaced them with foreign agency workers paid as little as $2.26 an hour.
Now, Nautilus alleges Carnival UK is threatening to pull off a similar move.
Carnival UK, which runs 10 cruise ships through operators P&O Cruises and Cunard, denied such claims. P&O Cruises and P&O Ferries are wholly separate companies.
"We are categorically not making any redundancies and will not dismiss and re-engage staff," a Carnival UK spokesperson told Business Insider, saying the firm was conducting an "annual pay review process."
The entire dispute stems from negotiations between Carnival UK and Nautilus over potential pay cuts.
In a statement seen by BI, Nautilus said the Carnival UK wants to "enforce a cut in 20% of their working days," which would effectively reduce the annual take-home pay of its ship workers.
The union said it started negotiations on November 14, but was told on Wednesday evening that Carnival UK had filed a HR1 form — a notice that companies must submit to the UK government when carrying out mass layoffs.
Nautilus alleged that Carnival UK's hiring firm, Fleet Maritime Services, wrote in the HR1 form that it didn't plan for redundancies, but that "dismissal and re-engagement may be considered if agreement cannot be reached on new terms."
The union said this showed that Carnival UK "never had any intention of 'meaningful negotiation.'"
Carnival UK's spokesperson told BI that instead of redundancies, the company has "significantly increased our headcount across our fleet."
They said Carnival UK's pay review would "ensure alignment" between the company and its maritime workers. "This will empower our staff, deliver the right teams across our fleet, and attract and retain talent to work on our ships," the spokesperson added.
Carnival UK is run by the Carnival Corporation group, which also operates Carnival Cruise Line, the US cruise company.
The group also operates Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises Australia.
November 24, 2023: This story was updated to reflect comment from Carnival UK and Nautilus International.