More than 5,400 signatures have been collected in a petition to save jobs at P&O Ferries.

It comes after the cross channel operator announced it is making 1,100 jobs redundant from Dover and Hull earlier this month as part of cost-cutting measures.

The document, named Save P&O Jobs - Save Britain's Ferries, is being circulated via megaphone.org.uk and was started by RMT union general secretary Mick Cash.

It is addressed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and says: "Over 900 UK seafarers and 200 port staff, mainly in Dover and Hull face redundancy and unemployment as a result of P&O Ferries plans to permanently slash labour costs during Covid-19.

"We call on the UK Government to protect these key maritime jobs from being lost to communities and the economy by:

• Making all taxpayer support provided to P&O Ferries conditional on protecting jobs and training for UK seafarers, particularly on routes from Dover and Hull.

• Demanding P&O Ferries continue furloughing UK seafarers and port workers rather than using redundancy schemes

• Purchasing P&O Ferries’ Royal Charter from parent company DP World."

It also calls on him to:

• Outlaw nationality based pay discrimination against seafarers.

• Bring P&O Ferries’ fleet back onto the UK Ship Register.

• Train more British Ratings to fill the dangerous skills gap in the UK shipping industry.

The company's cost-saving measures were announced in March when 1,100 employees were furloughed. In April P&O furloughed an extra 300 workers and laid up three ships, reducing its Dover to Calais operation from six to three ships.

Workers had been made aware that the company was running a consultation on cost cutting and that job losses would follow. Then in May came the announcement that 1,100 jobs were going - and a leaked document revealed 614 of them apply to Dover seafarers.

Ill feeling developed when we revealed in April that P&O's Dubai based owner DP World was paying a $322million dividend to shareholders from 2019 profits, when the company had asked the UK government for a £150million bailout on top of the help paying wages of the staff it has furloughed.

DP World said at the time the company was legally bound to make the payment having already announced the profits from the previous year.

Mr Cash in his petition adds: "As an island nation the UK relies on seafarers working on roll-on roll-off ferries to keep the economy going. From Dover and Hull alone, these workers move 11 million passengers and over 26m tonnes of road freight in a year.

"The taxpayer is subsidising the wages of furloughed P&O staff and P&O’s vital freight routes during the pandemic through an estimated £25m support. To date, the Government has refused to make this taxpayer support conditional on protection of key seafarer jobs and skills in struggling port communities where P&O’s operations have a huge economic influence.

"Ferries remain one of the last areas of major employment for domestic seafarers and are the lifeline supply link between the UK economy and the rest of the world. Successive Government’s have failed to prevent UK seafarers from being replaced by cheaper foreign crews on ferries and other ships working from UK ports, to the extent that UK seafarers held under a quarter of over 67,000 jobs in 2019.

"P&O Ferries plans would cut 8% from the UK’s total number of Ratings, sending seafarer jobs and skills in struggling port communities into a potential death spiral as employers import Ratings from overseas on wages well below the National Living Wage of £8.72 per hour and on contracts that demand 12 hour days, seven days a week for six months. There are serious maritime safety risks whenever seafarers are required to work exhausting contracts like this.

Click here to see the petition.

P&O Ferries did not wish to comment.

Head to our business page for all of the latest news about businesses in Kent

For the latest coronavirus news and advice, click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Kent