P&O Ferries could face prosecution
P&O Ferries could face prosecution over the sacking of 800 workers.
The business minister, Paul Scully, warned before a government ultimatum to the company.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said he will review all government contracts and dealings with the company.
The RMT union said seafarers from abroad had been brought in to replace the 800 sacked.
P&O Ferries declined to discuss the rates or give and would not confirm whether it paid the minimum wage.
Shapps has given the company a deadline of Tuesday night to explain how the procedures were followed.
“If they have flouted the notification law where they are supposed to tell the secretary of state when they are going to make more than a hundred people redundant, then there are criminal sanctions involved in that, including an unlimited fine,” he said.
“We have reserved the right to approach the prosecuting authorities should that be the right thing to do.”
“They need to realize that the relationship between the companies and the government has changed as a result of their callous [conduct],” he said.
Shapps admitted last week that he was made aware of planned redundancies at 8.30 pm on Wednesday.
The shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said the government “should have moved” faster after it was notified, from the BBC.
“It was clear when that memo was sent to the government this was something out of the ordinary … to be told yesterday that they did know in advance what was going on, first of all, they should have moved to stop that and they can still move to stop that. It’s no good saying it will help people get jobs who’ve been sacked in this way.
“We cannot allow this to stand because this becomes the template for how these things are done in the UK from now on.”
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