This episode’s guest is John Lansdown, one of 786 seafarers dismissed by P&O Ferries on 17th March 2022, one of the most shocking corporate acts in modern British employment history. After over 15 years of loyal service, he and his colleagues were abruptly fired via pre-recorded video, a move designed to replace experienced British crews with low-paid agency workers, many earning below the UK minimum wage.

Rather than accept silence, John became one of the leading voices exposing the injustice. His decision to speak publicly, to Parliament, to national media, and alongside trade unions like the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers and Nautilus International, helped turn what might have been a quiet redundancy into a major national scandal.

He has since become a symbol of worker resistance and moral courage, representing those who lost not only jobs but dignity, rights, and trust in Britain’s labour protections. John continues to campaign for reform of maritime employment law and stronger enforcement against exploitative corporate practices. His story offers a human face to questions of legal loopholes, corporate governance, and the moral responsibilities of employers in the twenty-first century. Enjoy the discussion.

In this episode of We Can Work It Out, we explore the history of the UK employment tribunal system and ask a deceptively simple question: how did Britain move from collective dispute resolution rooted in trade unions to an increasingly individualised, legalistic model of workplace justice?

My guest is Professor Susan Corby, Emeritus Professor of Employment Relations at the University of Greenwich and one of the leading scholars of employment tribunals and dispute resolution. Susan brings a rare combination of perspectives to this discussion. Before entering academia, she was a senior trade union official with both the FDA and the Royal College of Midwives, and she has since held a range of public appointments, including as a lay member of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, a member of the Central Arbitration Committee, and an ACAS arbitrator and mediator.

Together, we trace the evolution of employment tribunals from their quiet introduction in 1965 through to their contemporary role at the centre of individual employment rights. We discuss why tribunals were never intended to replace collective bargaining, how political and economic change reshaped their purpose, and why the system has become steadily more formal and legalistic over time. Along the way, we examine tribunal fees, access to justice, the declining role of lay members, and what Britain might learn from alternative models of workplace justice overseas.

This episode is a deep dive into how we resolve conflict at work—and what that history tells us about power, fairness, and the future of employment relations in Britain. Enjoy the discussion.

In Episode 4 of We Can Work It Out, I was joined by Professor Douglas Brodie, one of the UK’s leading scholars of labour and employment law, to explore the long and contested history of British labour law from 1867 to 1945. Drawing on his seminal book A History of British Labour Law, 1867–1945, our conversation traced how the legal regulation of work emerged, how it was shaped by social struggle, judicial reasoning, and political reform, and why this history still matters in today’s world of precarious labour, platform work, and regulatory retreat.