P&O Ferries has hit back at claims it was trying to get its new cheaper agency staff to accept even lower wages.
The RMT Union said it had received reports of new workers in Dover being asked to sign new contracts replacing those they signed weeks ago, at lower pay.
It reported P&O Ferries to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, which made sure the new workers kept their wages.
But P&O Ferries told the BBC that “no agency seafarers have been asked to accept reduced wages”.
The company, which has come under fire for summarily laying off 800 workers and replacing them with cheaper agency workers in March, said there were “no plans to change or reduce the wages” of the new seafarers.
Her statement on Monday came after the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) contacted the union and a seaman on the Spirit of Britain ferry at Dover who had been hired last month to replace the redundant staff a dispute asked for payment.
The union said the company is now trying to “put in place an exploitative model, with the lowest possible standards they can get away with”.
In an email accessible to the BBC, the worker wrote: “They don’t care about our rights. They try to give us less money. We are desperate.”
The seafarers told the union they were being forced to work without contracts after old ones expired. The worker claimed documents were also lost at P&O Ferries.
“This is my sixth day without a contract, please help us!” they said.
The RMT union complained to the Maritime and Coastguard Authority (MCA) about P&O Ferries’ new move, which ensured seafarers’ contracts were changed and their original wages reinstated.
However, P&O Ferries said there had been an “administrative misunderstanding” in relation to a contract presented to a person who appeared to be “unaware of an addendum clarifying that he was entitled to an additional £195 a month , meaning there was no change to his total compensation”.
“We will continue to fully comply with any national minimum wage commitments put in place by the UK Government,” a spokesman added.
P&O has previously declined to comment on how much agencies pay workers on ferries.
Some of P&O’s ferries are registered in Cyprus, meaning they don’t have to pay the minimum wage required by UK law, which has risen to £9.50 an hour from April 1st.
- March 17: P&O Ferries lays off 800 employees and begins replacing them with cheaper contract workers.
- March 24: Peter Hebblethwaite, chief executive of P&O Ferries, admits to MPs that the decision to lay off 800 workers without notice was against the law and says he would make the same decision again if he had to.
- March 28: Transport Secretary Grant Shapps calls on P&O to reinstate redundant workers and says the government plans to make it illegal for ferry companies to pay less than minimum wage.
On Friday, the Spirit of Britain, which operates between Dover and Calais, was cleared to resume service following inspections by the MCA. According to the regulator, it has been detained in port since April 12 for a series of unspecified deficiencies.
RMT officials boarded the Spirit of Britain on Friday to speak to new seafarers who were said to share grievances about contracts.
National Secretary Darren Proctor, who was visiting, claimed P&O Ferries “brought people in on one month contracts, some on two month contracts” and then told them they would have to accept lower pay rates if they wanted to stay.
“P&O is undermining safety and making ferry standards the lowest possible denominator,” he said.
When P&O Ferries laid off its employees in March, the company said it was to secure the company’s future.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said he wants to see UK ports refuse access to ferry companies “that don’t pay a fair wage”.
He said the government would consult on changes needed to make this a legal requirement, but urged ports to take action “as soon as possible”.
However, British ports have called the new tariff plans for the ferry industry “unworkable”.
Tim Morris, chief of trade association UK Major Ports Group, said there was legislation preventing port operators from “picking and choosing who we let into our ports outside of some very tight security restrictions”.
He said while the panel was “disappointed and surprised like everyone else, there needs to be a change in legislation before employment conditions can be linked to port access”.
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