The Department for Transport (DfT) on Wednesday (30 March) set out new protections for seafarers in the wake of the P&O Ferries scandal, which saw the firm – owned by Dubai-based DP World – on 18 March sack nearly 800 UK seafarers on the spot without notification or consultation. It has since replaced them with agency workers paid below the minimum wage.
P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite has come under intense pressure to resign after admitting to a government select committee hearing the firm had knowingly broken the law by failing to consult workers or unions, and did so because it knew it had no chance of getting its proposal past them.
