16 March 2024 , 19:55
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Ministers have spent £900,000 with P&O Ferries in the two years since the mass firing scandal that saw the firm’s behaviour branded “appalling” by the Government.
On the anniversary of the scandal, which saw hundreds of employees sacked without prior consultation, Labour has warned little to nothing has been done to prevent a repeat of it.
Since then, government departments have spent almost £900,000 with P&O Ferries, primarily through the Ministry of Defence, according to data obtained by Labour in Parliamentary Questions.
Louise Haigh, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “It has now been two years since P&O Ferries illegally sacked 786 workers and replaced them with agency workers paid less than the minimum wage. Since then little to nothing has changed: The investigation into the company has gone silent, fire and rehire is still legal, no binding measures are in place to protect seafarers, and Ministers have rewarded P&O with hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money.“
In response to the scandal, then-PM Boris Johnson said P&O Ferries had “broken the law” and said the government would “take them to court”.
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But the Insolvency Service’s civil investigation into P&O Ferries remains unresolved and fire and rehire practices remain legal. And the Seafarers’ Wages Act, passed last March, has yet to come in to force - leaving as many as 4,400 seafarers are still being paid below the minimum wage.
In a letter to the Transport and Business Secretaries, Ms Haigh called on the Tories to show it will not tolerate more attacks on working people by adopting Labour’s plan to prevent a repeat of this scandal ever happening again. As well as requiring employers to properly consult staff before changing their contracts, Labour’s plan would crack down on “fire and rehire” tactics. And it would make the Seafarers’ Charter - currently a voluntary agreement of standards - legally binding.
Ms Haigh added: “It is clear that under the Tories these attacks will be allowed to continue, and that working people will always come last. The next Labour government will take action and legislate to end fire and rehire practices for good so that this scandal can never happen again.”