During transport questions in the Commons, several members referred to the practices of P&O Ferries, who fired 786 of its staff and replaced them with low-paid workers
Firms have been slammed for behaving like “modern day pirates” with their continued use of fire and rehire tactics, ministers have been told as MPs called on the Government to ban the practice.
In a session during transport questions in the Commons, the actions of P&O Ferries came under scrutiny after the company sacked 786 staff members, replacing them with cheaper labour provided by an external agency, bypassing any notice or discussion with unions, attracting widespread criticism from government officials, trade unions, and the public alike.
Despite new laws on dismissal and re-engagement, known as fire and rehire, which could lead to increased compensation for victims in employment tribunals, critics argue these steps don’t go far enough. Labour’s Shadow transport minister Mike Kane said: “The UK minimum wage is £11.44 an hour but last week here in Parliament, Peter Hebblethwaite, CEO of P&O, admitted that they pay seafarers £4.87 per hour.”
He questioned the Government’s commitment to tackling the issue, saying: “This has been an awful breach of trust. What more will the minister do to stop companies acting like the modern day pirates of the high seas when it comes to fire and rehire? “.
Transport minister Anthony Browne acknowledged the unacceptable nature of P&O’s conduct, affirming: “That is why we introduced the Seafarers’ Wages Act, which will ensure that seafarers operating on regular service in UK waters get the minimum wage.”
“We’ve also co-ordinated with legislation in France to ensure there’s a minimum wage corridor for all services operating between the UK and France, and that will give the workers the wages that they deserve.”
He said: “In 2020, British Airways tried to sack 36,000 staff with fire and rehire and that was only stopped through strike action, the Government took no action. In 2021, Go Northwest in Manchester did the same, fire and rehire, again industrial action stopped that happening, the Government took no action.
“And then in 2022, infamously P&O Ferries unlawfully sacked 786 stock before replacing them with agency staff. The Government took no action. So I honestly implore the Government to actually outlaw this practice, not just bring in best codes of practice, but actually take some action to protect British workers.”
Mr Browne replied: “After the P&O incident where workers were indeed treated totally unacceptably, we introduced a whole range of measures set out in our nine point charter.
“Including legislation, the Seafarers’ Wages Act, which will come in this summer, we launched the seafarers charter that P&O are now committed to and I very much welcome that, and the Code of Practice on dismissal and engagement which will be coming in before the summer recess, which will give the workers up to 25% extra compensation if their employers don’t abide by it.”
SNP transport spokesperson Gavin Newlands slammed P&O’s actions as “reprehensible” and pressed the minister for clarification on whether the new fire and rehire code of practice could have averted such incidents.
Responding, Mr Browne said: “In the case of P&O, that is being investigated by an insolvency service and that investigation is ongoing at the moment and I await the outcome of that investigation. But the point of the code of practice is to make sure that hire and fire is very much a last resort.”