By P&O Ferries boss admits firm broke law
A boss at P&O Ferries has acknowledged that the firm did in fact break the law when it sacked 800 people without prior consultation.
Peter Hebblethwaite, Chief Executive of P&O Ferries said this was done because the company knew “no union would accept our proposal.
Speaking to MPs, he said: “I completely throw our hands up, my hands up, that we did choose not to consult.
“We did not believe there was any other way to do this.
“We considered every single other option but that would result in the closure of P&O.
“The new model is a fundamentally different operating model – no union would accept our proposals.”
According to reports Hebblethwaite confirmed that for the sake of the company, he would make the same decision again.
Since the sackings P&O have hired replacement agency staff from India.
It has also been revealed that new workers are being paid between £5.15 and £6 per hour.
This is far below the UK’s minimum wage of £8.91.
Around 40 members of P&O Ferries staff who have been affected by the recent mass-sacking have been offered a £100,000 compensation package.
But Mick Lynch, General Secretary of the RMT union, said “pay in lieu of notice is not compensation”.
“These are the actions of a bully trying to maximise profits by sacking workers and replacing them with agency staff below the minimum wage,” he said.
“The pay in lieu of notice is not compensation, it is just a payment staff are contractually entitled to as there was no notice given.
“The way that the package has been structured is pure blackmail and threats.”
Updates to follow.
(Image: Aschuff / Wikipedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0)
