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P&O Ferries' chief executive has announced plans to make six figures in 2023, just over a year after axing hundreds of UK-based crew members and replacing them with overseas workers earning just £4.87 an hour. He accepted the bonus, MPs heard on Tuesday.
British ministers have pledged to “take action against company leaders who break the law” after a shipping company sacked 800 seafarers in 2022 without any notice or regular consultation. .
P&O's treatment of these employees led to lasting negative reputational damage. These include recent sponsorship deals with Hull KR after the rugby league club said it had “underestimated the continuing depth of feeling that remains in some of our communities”. This also includes the cancellation of the contract.
But boss Peter Hebblethwaite told the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee on Tuesday that while he regretted the decision, it was legal. He said one of the two investigations launched by the government had been closed without further action, adding that he was “confident” in the outcome of the second investigation.
Mr Hebblethwaite said he had “reconsidered” before accepting his £325,000-a-year salary plus £183,000 bonus in April 2023, but “ultimately decided to take it”.
He also confirmed that seafarers who currently crew P&O's cross-Channel and Northern Sea routes, many of whom fly in from the Philippines and Indonesia, receive a basic wage of around £2.90 an hour.
Mr Hebblethwaite said his total hourly wage, including guaranteed overtime, bonuses and holiday pay, started at £4.87. He added that while the amount was “well above” international minimum standards, he could not live on it himself.
His evidence prompted an angry response from trade unions. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said Mr Hebblethwaite should “take a seat in the defendant's seat to meet the company's responsibilities” rather than “hold on to his big bonus”.
“It is incredible that P&O Ferries has not faced any sanction for its wrongdoing,” said Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, the UK's governing body for the labor movement.
P&O claims it has paid more than the minimum amount required by international maritime standards and that “as an international company operating on the high seas, we must comply with international law.”
However, the company, which is owned by Dubai-based DP World, will soon be in line following the introduction of French legislation that will require ferry operators to pay the national minimum wage and keep crew on board for no more than 14 days. The crewing model may need to be reconsidered.
British legislation requiring a national minimum wage for all seafarers operating in British waters is also due to come into force later this year.
Mr Hebblethwaite told MPs that the company would “absolutely” comply with any new legislation and that it would create a level playing field in the sector, which would make it more affordable. Told. He previously said the 2022 changes were essential to P&O's survival.
But he also acknowledged that current crews could be affected by new rest requirements and that it could be more expensive to transport people over long distances in a short period of time.
P&O crew agent Phil Crew is “working with them to see how we can help as many of them stay as possible” but said there was “no guarantee” what would happen to them. he said.
