P&O Ferries could face prosecution over sackings, minister says
P&O Ferries could face prosecution over the sacking of 800 workers, business minister Paul Scully warned ahead of a government ultimatum to the company.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said he will review all government contracts and dealings with the company and its owners, DP World.
On Tuesday, the RMT union said seafarers from abroad had been brought in to replace the 800 sacked British crew and were being paid as little as £1.80 an hour. P&O Ferries disputes the figures, but it declined to discuss the rates or give alternative rates and would not confirm whether it paid the minimum wage.
Scully said the government was examining whether the company had followed the proper procedure ahead of mass redundancies. 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.”
Scully said the company should be on notice that it had fundamentally changed the relationship with the government, including a £25m subsidy the company had received to help develop London Gateway as a freeport.
“They need to realise that the relationship between the companies and the government has changed as a result of their absolutely callous [conduct],” he said.
Shapps admitted last week that he was made aware of planned redundancies on Wednesday evening at 8.30pm but assumed that they would be conducted in the same way as the 1,100 layoffs in 2020,
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