The Government must honour its pledge to punish P&O Ferries and its chief executive over the mass sacking of 800 employees in 2022, the maritime officers’ union said.
Amid fears that an investigation into the company’s actions has stalled, the Nautilus International union said Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, must ensure P&O is “brought to justice” as she prepares to unveil her Employment Rights Bill next month.
Mark Dickinson, Nautilus’ general secretary, called on the Government not to water down the seafarers’ charter promised by Ms Rayner in the wake of the P&O scandal, which sought to strengthen workers’ rights.
In the aftermath of the mass sacking, Ms Rayner vowed to provide minimum protections on pay, roster patterns, crewing levels, pensions, taxation and training.
Mr Dickinson said Labour must ignore any lobbying efforts to water down protections relating to maritime workers.
He said: “Don’t lose sight of the pledges. Nothing has changed. P&O happened and we have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“I don’t doubt for a minute there’ll be others lobbying to try and row back from those commitments.”
The union boss also called on the Government to increase pressure on the Insolvency Service, which is yet to punish P&O or its chief executive, Peter Hebblethwaite. That is despite launching its investigation into the company two years ago after Mr Hebblethwaite admitted to breaking the law by sacking 800 workers without consultation.
Mr Dickinson said: “I don’t know why it’s taking so long. We need to see that process completed. They need to be brought to justice and they need to account for their actions.
“We’re working with the Government with the officials and we’ve set out our expectations. At the very least, we need an update of where we are.”
Ms Rayner was a vocal critic of P&O in the wake of the scandal, vowing last year to introduce a seafarers’ charter to prevent a repeat of the tactics used by the ferry company. At the time, she said the Insolvency Service probe had the power to disqualify Mr Hebblethwaite and other senior P&O personnel from serving as company directors. She also vowed to “bring forward this investigation to ensure justice can be served”.
Mr Dickinson said Nautilus and the RMT union, which represents more junior seafarers, held discussions with Mike Kane, the minister for aviation, maritime and security, soon after Labour came to power. Mr Kane said at the Labour conference last week that the Government would ensure that P&O’s actions could never be repeated. However, when asked how work on the charter was progressing, he said that employment issues weren’t part of his remit.
A Government spokesman declined to comment on the likely content of the Employment Rights Bill prior to it being introduced in Parliament.
However, the spokesman said: “The mass sackings by P&O Ferries were a national scandal which cannot be allowed to happen again. That’s why we are absolutely committed to improving protections for seafarers and to making work pay.”
P&O was contacted for comment.
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