Ministers have given P&O bosses until 5pm on Tuesday to explain their decision to sack 800 members of staff.
MPs believe the travel giant may have broken the law by failing to follow "clear rules" on firing staff. The ferry operator is under threat of legal action if it fails to give satisfactory answers to 10 questions about the decision by tomorrow’s deadline - as Mirror Online reports.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the information given by P&O would “inform next steps”, but could lead to a “formal complaint to the relevant prosecuting authority”.
READ MORE: P&O Ferries cancellations and delays: Can I get my money back?
Nearly a quarter of P&O Ferries' employees were told via a video message on Thursday that it was their "final day of employment". The company will use an agency to keep their ferries running and current staff will be able to apply to the agency for work.
The Sunday Times reported leaked government memos showed Department for Transport civil servants were told about P&O's plans on Wednesday night. It said ministers failed to challenge the decision as they were told the sackings would ensure P&O “remain a key player in the UK market for years to come through restructuring”.
The Department for Transport said the memo had “outlined what officials had been told by P&O” - and ministers had “made clear their outrage” as soon as they were informed.
Labour will try to force a vote banning "fire and rehire" tonight as Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: "Labour will fight every step of the way".
The RMT Trade Union said P&O Ferries are registered to Cyprus, the Bahamas and Holland - and could mean foreign crews are not protected by UK employment law requiring a minimum wage of £8.91 an hour. Labour MP Karl Turner has been dealing with the shipping company in his Hull East constituency - and said migrant workers were expected to work 12-hour shifts for eight weeks at a time for as little as £1.82 an hour.
He said: "What P&O has accepted previously in meetings with me and the RMT, they've said $2.40 an hour (£1.82). That was only admitted by them because we got some correspondence from the P&O management a couple of years ago which was leaked to the RMT. We produced those documents to ministers at the time. It's grotesquely exploitative."
Mike Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, said the “flags of convenience” practice had led to “widespread exploitation” - and called on the government to take control of P&O's ferries.
He said: “If they won’t honour the law then they should take control of those vessels and put our people back to work and be the operator of last resort.”
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