The boss of P&O Ferries has flatly rejected the government’s final plea to halt the process of making nearly 800 of its workers redundant.
In a letter to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Tuesday, the company said the process was in its final stages with most workers already accepting severance offers, and changing course now would lead to its collapse.
Ministers were “ignoring the situation’s fundamental and factual realities”, P&O chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite wrote in the letter.
“Complying with your request would deliberately cause the company’s collapse,” Mr Hebblethwaite continued, “resulting in the irretrievable loss of an additional 2,200 jobs.”
“I cannot imagine that you would wish to compel an employer to bring about its downfall, affecting not hundreds but thousands of families.”
Advertisement Image: P&O CEO Peter Hebblethwaite appears before a committee in WestminsterMore than 97% of those made redundant – around 765 of 786 workers – have “taken steps to accept the settlement offer” and more than 500 had signed legally-binding agreements.
On Monday, Mr Shapps told P&O it would have “little choice” but to reverse its decision to sack 800 staff under new measures due to be put before MPs this week.
More on P&o Related Topics: P&OIn a letter to Mr Hebblethwaite, Mr Shapps said proposals being brought to parliament would “ensure that seafarers are protected against these types of actions”.
They are expected to be outlined to MPs on Wednesday.
“Through that package, I intend to block the outcome that P&O Ferries has pursued, including paying workers less than the minimum wage,” the transport secretary added.
He said this would leave P&O “one further opportunity” to offer all 800 workers their jobs back on previous terms, conditions and wages – if they want them back.
Mr Shapps also told Mr Hebblethwaite his reputation was “in tatters”, and his “position as chief executive, and indeed as a company director, has become untenable.”
2:21 P&O chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite has defended the company’s sacking of 800 workers, which broke employment law.The government further turned the screw on P&O on Tuesday through confirmation that a new code was to be established governing controversial so-called ‘fire and rehire’ tactics by companies in the UK.
Labour markets minister Paul Scully said: “P&O Ferries’ actions were not a case of fire and rehire – just fire.
“However, the way the company acted in not consulting employees before taking extreme measures was appalling. This has laid bare the measures some deceitful employers are prepared to take to exploit and break the law.
“That is why we are producing a new code to tighten the screw on unscrupulous employers, who must comply with a new statutory code on tougher employment rules – including fire and rehire.
We expect companies to treat their employees fairly – and whilst the vast majority comply with the law – today we are going further to stand up for workers against those that flagrantly disregard it.”
‘Not a fit and proper employer’
Meanwhile, at a parliamentary meeting of the International Development Committee on Tuesday, it was confirmed that CDC – a government financial institution which invests in global development – had plied substantial aid into DP World, P&O’s parent company.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office supports the CDC financially and this year has invested almost half a billion pounds into its operations.
The CDC/DP World partnership was set up to support projects to help reduce poverty in parts of Africa, but it was a move committee members were not convinced by.
Committee chair Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, asked the FCDO representatives how they felt about their investment, which was “meant to be going to poverty alleviation”, going to “an organisation seen by this House as not a fit and proper employer”?
And Nick O’Donohoe, chief executive officer of CDC, admitted that what DP World had done with P&O was “disappointing”.
“Obviously, we think we invest alongside trusted partners – but not everybody behaves in the way you hope they would,” he added.
But Caroline Read, the FCDO’s director of economic cooperation and growth directorate, said she believed the impact of the project, when it was complete, would be huge for the economies of Somaliland, Egypt and other countries.
“We must not forget this is the point of these projects,” she added.
Atmosphere of ‘panic’ on board
On Monday night, a second P&O ferry, the Pride of Kent, was detained after it failed safety checks by authorities.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) made the revelation as a new crewmember aboard a P&O vessel told Sky News there was an atmosphere of “panic” on his ship given the public scrutiny over this month’s events.
The MCA had said earlier in the day the Pride of Kent was undergoing checks to ensure it was safe to put to sea without passengers or cargo – ahead of a full inspection at a later date.
But the body revealed on Monday evening that she had failed to pass muster.
Image: P&O’s European Causeway ferry docked at Larne Port in Northern Ireland last week.On Tuesday, the MCA said P&O’s Pride of Kent was “detained due to failures on vessel documentation, crew familiarisation and training, and emergency equipment not functioning properly, indicating a failure of the implementation of a safety management system”.
The MCA said their surveyors had found serious deficiencies onboard the vessel, and they had “advised P&O to invite us back once they have addressed the issues. We do not know yet when this will be.”
Currently, the company has two vessels detained, a further five vessels requiring port control inspection, and only one vessel cleared to sail.