P&O Ferries: Not consulting on job cuts broke law, boss admits

P&O Ferries boss Peter Hebblethwaite has admitted to MPs that a decision to sack 800 workers last week without consulting the unions broke the law.

He said there was "absolutely no doubt" that under UK employment law the firm was required to consult unions before making the mass cuts.

"We chose not to consult and we are, and will, compensate everybody in full for that," he said.

He said no union would have accepted P&O's job slashing plans.

The firm sparked outrage when it sacked 800 seafarers with no warning using a video message.

Most of them will be replaced by foreign workers who will be paid less than the minimum wage, Mr Hebblethwaite told MPs at a joint transport and business committee on Thursday.

He apologised for the distress caused by the sackings, but added they were necessary to save the business which is heavily loss-making.

He also said workers would receive "extremely generous" compensation, although as part of these settlements they would forgo their right to pursue further legal action against P&O.

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Asked whether P&O broke the law by not consulting the unions, Mr Hebblethwaite said: "We've moved from one operating model to another. It was our assessment that the change was of such a magnitude that no union could possibly accept our proposal."

He added: "So as I say, 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 than to compensate people in full."

Bonus

Mr Hebblethwaite, who earns £325,000 a year as a base salary, declined to say whether he would forgo his bonuses because of the sackings.

He told MPs that the average hourly rate of pay for new P&O crewmembers would be £5.50 per hour, which is below the UK minimum wage. However, this complies with international maritime standards.

From 1 April, the UK minimum wage for people aged 23 and over will be £9.50.

Mr Hebblethwaite told MPs: "On the routes that are international routes, that are governed by ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation) standards, we are paying above ITF minimum wages.

"This is an international seafaring model that is consistent with models throughout the globe and our competitors," he said.

Separately, the ferry firm had a legal obligation to notify the governments in the countries where its ferries are registered that it was going to make the redundancies.

The company informed authorities in Barbados, Bermuda and Cyprus on 17 March - but MPs on the committee said it should have done this sooner.

On Wednesday, Boris Johnson told the Commons that "it looks like" P&O breached a similar rule in the UK, but employment lawyers have cast doubt on that claim.