P&O Ferries was accused of plumbing new depths yesterday after trying to cut the wages of its new low-paid foreign crew.
Overseas agency workers hired to replace 786 staff illegally sacked by Zoom call claimed they were asked to sign new contracts on lower pay.
If they did not agree they faced being out of work, it is claimed.
One agency worker emailed the RMT union from the Spirit of Britain ferry in Dover and declared: “We are desperate.”
In one example, workers say chefs paid £2,336 a month on temporary contracts were asked to sign new deals giving them £195 a month less.
The ferry, now cleared to resume the Dover to Calais route, has a crew of 70.
But it is not known if all faced a cut, or if staff on seven other ferries were targeted too.
Some crew earn just £748 a month for a 40-hour week – barely £4.30 an hour.
Darren Procter, national secretary of the RMT – which is campaigning for dismissed P&O staff to be reinstated – says some new workers were brought in on a month’s contract. He said the contracts had expired and staff were offered “inferior terms”.
He added: “Irrespective of nationality, we are concerned – they are just as much victims as our members.”
P&O sparked uproar last month by sacking staff without notice and then replacing them with cheaper overseas staff.
The dismissals were slammed as illegal by PM Boris Johnson. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps called for £325,000-a-year P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite to quit for breaking employment law.
The new crew was hired through Malta-based International Ferry Management, set up in February. Shipping firms registered abroad and running routes from the UK to Europe are exempt from minimum pay legislation.
In the email seen by the Sunday Mirror, a Romanian chef claimed IFM and P&O were trying to make agency crew sign new contracts.
He said: “They don’t care about rights. This is my sixth day working without contract, please help us. They try to give us less money. We are desperate.”
Sources close to P&O Ferries last night denied trying to amend rates of pay.
But a Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman said: “Prior to reinspecting the Spirit of Britain yesterday, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency received a complaint via the RMT, that a seafarer had been asked to sign a contract with reduced wages. As part of the re-inspection the MCA investigated and as a result the affected seafarers were issued with amended contracts, which reverted to their original wages.”
The RMT was allowed to board the ship last week and speak to crew.
Mr Procter said: “I spoke with three Honduran crew and explained they only have 50 minutes in port and will not set foot on dry land for shore leave for 17 weeks – as there is no time to do so. The colour drained from their faces and I think they realised they were joining a ferry and not a P&O cruise ship!
“Their contract is basic pay of $961 per month for 40 hours work per week. This equates to £748 per month on board a vessel, away from loved ones on the most intensive ferry route in UK.”
Sacked P&O chef John Lansdown, 40, slammed “another example of corporate greed”. Mr Lansdown, of Herne Bay, Kent, who is suing for unfair dismissal, said: “P&O are exploiting workers. If they get away with it again it could give the green light to others.”
P&O has said the sackings came after £100million-a-year losses jeopardised all 3,000 staff. The company, which refused to comment yesterday, was bought back for £322milion in 2019 by Dubai-based DP World, which first owned it in 2006.
