P&O

Ferry CEO Peter Hebblethwaite pulls wool over MPs’ eyes by claiming to pay more than double an internationally agreed seafarer wage Disgraced P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite appeared for another grilling in Parliament last week, before MPs on the Business and Trade Select Committee.

Two years ago, trade unionists across the globe reacted in outrage as P&O Ferries illegally sacked 786 UK seafarers, a move that UK unions RMT and Nautilus labelled a ‘national scandal’. These workers have yet to receive the justice they deserve, and the threat of another P&O Ferries-style jobs massacre looms large due to government inaction.

ETF and ITF welcome the bilateral France - UK agreement over voluntary seafarer employment and welfare standards. Yet, they call together for the adoption of mandatory seafarer employment standards on European shipping routes, underpinned by sectoral collective bargaining rights.

A year after P&O Ferries illegally sacked almost 800 UK seafarers, European and global unions call for the UK Prime Minister to crack down on corporations who break the law and violate the labour rights of British workers.

ETF deplores P&O Ferries’ proposal to make 1,100 redundancies amongst key workers in Dover, Hull, Liverpool, Cairnryan and Larne including over 900 UK seafarers. We believe that any public funding received by shipping companies to address the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic should be conditional on the protection of local employment and the Collective Bargaining Agreements with the ETF’s UK affiliates for the long term.