P&O Ferries boss admits unions were not consulted over sackings and new crew paid below minimum wage

The boss of P&O Ferries has admitted that unions were not consulted ahead of the sacking of almost 800 staff last week, and new crew will be paid well below the minimum wage.
By Caitlin Doherty
Published 24th Mar 2022, 12:15 BST

CEO Peter Hebblethwaite - who earns a base salary of £325,000 - did not answer when asked if he could live on £5.50 an hour, which is the new average wage paid to the company’s seafaring staff.

Mr Hebblethwaite told a joint meeting of the Transport and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committees this morning that consulting unions on the new crewing model would have been a “sham” and that “no union could accept our proposal”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He told MPs: “We assessed that given the fundamental nature of change, no union could accept it and therefore we chose not to consult because a consultation process would have been a sham.

Peter Hebblethwaite, Chief Executive, P&O Ferries, answering questions in front of the Transport Committee and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee in the House of CommmonsPeter Hebblethwaite, Chief Executive, P&O Ferries, answering questions in front of the Transport Committee and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee in the House of Commmons
Peter Hebblethwaite, Chief Executive, P&O Ferries, answering questions in front of the Transport Committee and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee in the House of Commmons

“We didn’t want to put anybody through that.

“We are compensating people in full and up-front for that decision.”

Almost 800 staff were made redundant last Thursday, including seafarers operating P&O Ferries’ route from Hull to Rotterdam in The Netherlands.

New crew have been hired on wages that fall more than £3 an hour below the UK minimum wage.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The “entirely different model” P&O now has, is “about half the price of the previous model,” Mr Hebblethwaite said.

Commenting on whether he believed that was a fair wage or whether he saw it as “modern day slavery”, Mr Hebblethwaite said: “The rates we are paying are in line or above ITF minimum standards and it is the operating model that the vast majority of operators across the globe work to.

“So this is the competitive standard.”

When it was pointed out that the rate was below minimum wage, which is £8.91 an hour for workers over the age of 23, Mr Hebblethwaite replied: “Where we are governed by national minimum wage, we will absolutely pay national minimum wage.

“This is an international seafaring model that is consistent with models throughout the globe and our competitors.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), told MPs that P&O Ferries “made flagrant breaches of the law”.

He said: “They’ve done it deliberately and they’ve factored in what they’re going to have to pay for it.”

He said the company is “threatening and blackmailing” its former employees, telling them they must sign a document or “you’ll potentially get no award whatsoever, and you have to give up all of your legal rights”.

He added: “This is absolutely outrageous.”

Related topics:MPsHull