Following P&O Ferries’ recent decision to offload 800 workers, the government is planning change the law and require ferry companies operating from UK ports to legally pay staff at least the National Minimum Wage.
The move comes as ministers hope to force the hand of P&O Ferries to reverse their March 17 decision to sack 800 of their workers and replace them with agency staff who will be paid less than the National Minimum Wage.
P&O took the decision without consulting workers’ unions, which violates UK employment law. After admitting before a parliamentary committee that P&O Ferries knowingly broke the law by implementing the mass cuts, chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite has faced calls to resign by both the transport secretary and the prime minister.
Hebblethwaite argued that the loss-making business had no choice but to make the mass redundancies if it was to get onto a secure financial footing and begin to operate sustainably.
Following Hebblethwaite’s appearance in Parliament and the ensuing criticism, unions held a number of demonstrations at UK ports over the weekend, including at Dover, Hull and Liverpool.
In response, the government is looking to bring legislation before the Commons this week to address a legal loophole which enables ferry operators registered overseas that use UK ports to pay less than the National Minimum Wage, under the condition that remuneration complies with international maritime standards.
The average rate that would be paid to the agency staff brought in by P&O Ferries is £5.50 per hour, while the National Minimum Wage for over-23s amounts to £8.91 per hour.
Yet, the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union’s national secretary, Darren Proctor, has said that if the 800 sacked workers are to be reinstated, then P&O Ferries should be made to remunerate them under their prior employment terms, rather than be able to pay them minimum wage.
Proctor added that ferry firms paying less than minimum wage had “contributed to the decimation of UK seafarers” and wages ought to be raised to create more opportunities for UK workers in the industry.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps has separately written to P&O boss Hebblethwaite urging him to reinstate the dismissed workers on their previous salaries before the new laws force him to do so.
Meanwhile, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency [MCA] has detained the P&O Ferries ship, European Causeway, in Northern Ireland amid concerns over “failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training” following the mass staff changes.
Workers’ unions had raised concerns following the cuts that a lack of training for new crew members being brought in could cause disruption to services.
The government will therefore hold talks with rival ferry operators this week, including DFDS and Stena Lines, to guarantee that travel routes remain open over Easter. This comes after P&O confirmed on Monday that its Dover to Calais line would remain suspended until March 31, having been expected to resume on March 29.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “Ministers are working to understand how we can ensure the continuation of services in collaboration with other operators, including DFDS and Stena.”
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
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