P&O uses Indian seafarers ‘earning less than £2 an hour’ after sacking UK staff

By Q Radio News

Indian seafarers hired to replace sacked P&O Ferries crews are being paid just 2.38 US dollars (£1.81) an hour, a union has claimed.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), which represented many of the 800 staff fired without notice last week, said their replacements are being paid well below the minimum wage in the UK.

General secretary Mick Lynch said:

“The news that the seafarers now on ships in British ports are to be paid 2.38 dollars an hour is a shocking exploitation of those seafarers and another gut-wrenching betrayal of those who have been sacked.

“The rule of law and acceptable norms of decent employment and behaviour have completely broken down beneath the white cliffs of Dover and in other ports, yet five days into this national crisis the Government has done nothing to stop it.

“These ships of shame must not be allowed to sail. The Government has to step in now and take control before it’s too late.”

The minimum wage in the UK for people aged 23 and above is £8.91 per hour.

But companies using UK ports often register ships in other countries, allowing them to pay lower wages.

For example, some vessels operated by P&O Ferries are flagged in Cyprus.

P&O Ferries refused to comment on the pay of agency workers.

When the firm informed staff on Thursday they were losing their jobs, it told them it was aiming to halve crewing costs.

No sailings have operated since that date.

General view of P&O ferry Norbay (left) moored at Gladstone Dock in Liverpool

The company posted on Twitter this morning that services will remain suspended “for the next few days”.

Demonstrators will gather outside the London offices of P&O Ferries owner DP World this afternoon, before marching to Parliament.

Also this afternoon, Labour will force an emergency vote in the Commons demanding that the Government takes action to outlaw the so-called fire and rehire of staff, which involves making workers redundant before giving them their jobs back with worse terms and conditions.

The party will also call on the Government to suspend contracts with DP World until the matter with P&O Ferries is resolved.

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “What I want to see is those workers reinstated to their jobs, as they should never (have) been dismissed from them.

“I want to see the Government take action here to ban this fire and rehire, which is the cause of this in the first place.

“There’s a vote on that this afternoon. So, what I don’t want to hear is ministers, Government ministers, complaining about what P&O have done.

“Now they’ve got the chance to do something about it, vote this afternoon for reinstatement and banning fire and rehire.”

P&O Ferries hit back at claims by unions that its decision to replace staff with agency workers puts the safety of ships at risk.

A spokesman for the company said: “Safety is the utmost priority for P&O Ferries and our crewing management partners.

“They have recruited high-quality experienced seafarers, who will now familiarise themselves with the ships, going through all mandatory training requirements set out by our regulators.

“Safety is paramount in our new crewing management model, which is used by many of our competitors and has been proven to be the most successful model in this industry and the competitive baseline.

“We will not be reducing crewing numbers. We don’t have a business if we don’t have a safe business.”

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer

Northern Ireland Economy Minister Gordon Lyons has described the sacking of the workers as “disgraceful”.

In a statement to the Assembly, Mr Lyons said: “At the outset let me be clear; neither I, as a constituency representative in East Antrim or as Minister of the Economy, nor my officials in the department, were afforded the courtesy of advanced notice of the P&O announcement.

“I regard their actions as disgraceful. P&O has literally ripped up the employment rule book, and, in the process, simply discarded 800 of their loyal and most diligent workforce.

“Even now, I can scarcely believe how callously they behaved.

“I understand that there could be up to 50 staff from Northern Ireland directly impacted by this announcement. Many of us in East Antrim know some of the workforce.

“The stories I heard of staff being escorted off ships, by men in balaclavas, carrying handcuffs, was as sinister as it was outrageous.

“Deploying such a tactic here, in Northern Ireland, to an unsuspecting workforce is so ill-judged and shocking, our condemnation alone is simply not enough.”

Mr Lyons said employment law requires employers to engage and consult when they plan to make large numbers of staff redundant.

He added: “No such engagement took place. There was no consultation.

“The law also requires the employer to notify the department, through NISRA, when making these numbers of staff redundant.

“No such notification took place. I understand there may have been some communication on Wednesday evening with the Department for Transport in London.

“But, I repeat, there was no sharing of that news, or engagement from the employer, with us.

“So, here we have an employer, who has deliberately flouted employment law, seeking to buy their way out of their statutory obligations and failing to consult or notify the responsible authorities along the way.

“It is simply not good enough.”

He added that he had instructed his officials to investigate remedies to breaches of employment law.

He said: “Earlier today, I met with our own Labour Relations Agency.

“They stand ready and willing to meet immediately with P&O to see how they can turn around what is a terrible situation.

“It must be in P&O’s interest to engage, because let us be in no doubt: their reputation, not to mention their future commercial viability, stands to take a massive hit here if they do not change course.

“They may want to hide behind the small print of maritime law that might, in their eyes, justify what they have done. But the court of public opinion will not be so sympathetic.

“In terms of going forward, not only do we stand ready, through the Labour Relations Agency, to intervene, but if P&O fail to take me up on that offer locally, I have already asked my officials to investigate what remedies we may have for any breaches of our devolved employment law.

“I understand that a similar piece of work is now under way in Whitehall and I will be writing to ministers there to make sure we are kept up to speed with their own investigations.”

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons