Unions have called for a commercial and consumer boycott of P&O Ferries, which is facing a fresh row over crew pay even as its sailings are set to resume on the Dover-Calais route.
The TUC urged freight firms and holidaymakers not to book on P&O Ferries, which broke the law when it sack nearly 800 crew last month, while the RMT union said it had evidence that agency workers brought in to replace those staff were being paid less than minimum wage.
“We have seen contracts of agency workers where they are being paid the equivalent of £4.35 an hour for 17 weeks work,” the RMT said. “This is less than half the current UK national minimum wage.”
The affected crew were on the Spirit of Britain, one of the Dover-based ferries, which has now been passed fit to sail after originally failing an inspection. That means sailings will resume this week, potentially as early as Tuesday, for lorries, with leisure travellers expected to be able to board the ferries next week.
P&O Ferries denied that they had cut pay and said it was an “administrative misunderstanding”, but the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it had investigated and upheld a complaint from the RMT.
The union said a crew member had alerted them saying he was “desperate” for help after his pay was apparently reduced by £195 on a new contract. A P&O Ferries spokesperson said the individual had been “unaware of an appendix which included made clear that he would be entitled to an additional £195 a month, meaning that there was no change in his overall pay”.
The spokesperson said: “There are no plans to change or reduce the wages of any of our agency seafarers and we have made clear that we will continue to comply fully with any national minimum wage obligations introduced by the UK government.”
The MCA said: “The complaint made by the RMT union about seafarers’ welfare and employment contracts was fully investigated as part of the reinspection of Spirit of Britain and upheld.”
The RMT’s general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Staffing ships with super-exploited agency staff is not just morally wrong, it undercuts those remaining ferry operators who do abide by union rates of pay and conditions and undermines passenger safety.”
The TUC called for a public and commercial boycott of P&O Ferries and its owner DP World, the Dubai-owned group that also has lucrative government contracts to run the port of Southampton and the London Thames Gateway freeport.
Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said: “P&O and DP World must not be allowed to get away with their scandalous and unlawful treatment of staff.
“Companies who behave like corporate gangsters deserve far more than a slap on the wrist. Ministers must sever all commercial ties with P&O and its owner DP World and ensure they do not receive a single penny of taxpayers’ money.”
She said that the scandal showed UK employment law was “not fit for purpose” and called on the government to bring forward an employment bill to strengthen workers’ rights.
The president of the Scottish TUC, Pat Rafferty, went further by saying P&O Ferries’ chief executive should be put in jail. Rafferty told the STUC conference in Aberdeen: “Peter Hebblethwaite should be struck off the directors register and put behind bars.”
Hebblethwaite admitted in a Commons hearing that P&O had failed to consult staff or give proper notification of the move to the UK government or flag states, breaking employment law. The firm is now under criminal investigation by the Insolvency Service.
Sailings have now resumed on most of P&O Ferries’ routes around the UK. Another vessel, the European Highlander, was passed by the MCA and returned to service on Saturday, bringing the Larne-Cairnryan route linking Northern Ireland and Scotland back to full capacity.
P&O Ferries have not sailed on the major route between Britain and Europe, the Dover-Calais crossing, since it suspended services on 17 March to make 786 crew redundant.
