Ministers plan to force all ferry companies operating from UK ports to pay at least the National Minimum Wage, in a bid to persuade P&O Ferries to reinstate 800 workers it has sacked.
Legislation will be introduced in the Commons later this week. A source says Transport Secretary Grant Shapps hopes the company will “see reason and step back”. But unions have said workers should be reinstated on their existing terms not the National Minimum Wage.
P&O Ferries prompted outrage on 17 March when it announced that it would be replacing staff immediately with agency workers paid less than the minimum wage.
Chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite has faced calls to resign, backed by the prime minister, after he admitted to MPs last week that he had known sacking the workers without notice was against the law.
On Saturday, protests took place at several ports, with unions holding demonstrations at Dover, Hull and Liverpool.
The government now plans to close a legal loophole which allows ferry operators using UK ports but registered overseas to pay less than the minimum wage.
The UK minimum hourly rate is £8.91, while the average rate paid to the agency staff brought in by P&O Ferries would be £5.50.
A source said the transport secretary would write to Mr Hebblethwaite telling him that if “he doesn’t perform a U-turn, we will force him to do it anyway”.
“We will make it impossible for ferry companies to operate from UK ports without paying the National Minimum Wage,” they added.
Efforts to change the law will begin on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
Unions had raised fears over a lack of training of new crew, and on Friday the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) detained P&O Ferries’ vessel European Causeway in Northern Ireland.
The ship was held in Larne over “failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training”, the MCA said. P&O Ferries said it would make changes to return the ship to service.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union said it would not accept the National Minimum Wage for its members, and that P&O Ferries should honour their existing contracts of employment.
The union’s national secretary, Darren Proctor, said ferry operators paying below minimum wage had “contributed to the decimation of UK seafarers” and higher wages would create more opportunities for UK workers.
However, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme customers may have to pay higher prices as a result.
“If you want decent terms and conditions and decent service and safe vessels then you might have to pay a little bit more,” he said.
P&O Ferries has said it had to replace crews because it was losing £100m a year and would not be a viable business without making the changes.
Bosses from two of the company’s competitors, DFDS and Stena Lines, are set to meet Department for Transport officials later to discuss the planned changes to the law as well as measures to tackle possible Easter travel problems if P&O services remain disrupted.
On Monday, P&O Ferries said its Dover-Calais route would remain suspended until 31 March. Sailings were originally expected to resume on 29 March.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Ministers are working to understand how we can ensure the continuation of services in collaboration with other operators, including DFDS and Stena.”
SOURCE: bbc.com
