Plan to stop P&O undercutting minimum wage will not ‘undo’ sackings as promised, Grant Shapps told Law change looms to end ‘sweatshop’ pay – but transport secretary told to go further to ensure workers are rehired
Plan to stop P&O undercutting minimum wage will not ‘undo’ sackings as promised, Grant Shapps told Law change looms to end ‘sweatshop’ pay – but transport secretary told to go further to ensure workers are rehired
8 comments
Won’t happen. Would act as a deterrent to investment. Firms such as P&O are vital to UK Plc – the only way to make this work would be through nationalisation and the current government are Conservative free marketeers
i just looked up the service life of P&Os ferries, looks like half are past their 25/30 year expected service life.
These workers were a member of the RMT which is possibly the most militant union in the country which would never accept a single modernisation of their terms to allow P&O to be more competitive (or even break even). P&O was never going to negotiate with a union as militant as the RMT, they’ve basically admitted that they had no choice to do what they did because the union never negotiates on anything so there was no point trying. Perhaps this whole situation can be a lesson to those thinking they can hide behind a militant union and that there are ramifications for being so agitating against your employer
So is his proposed legislation that any vessel working a somewhere to UK route is now governed by British wage laws?
So were they already paying below min wage? [https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/p-and-o-admits-paying-new-ferry-workers-below-uk-minimum-wage-41482617.html](https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/p-and-o-admits-paying-new-ferry-workers-below-uk-minimum-wage-41482617.html)
Maybe it was all legal though. If it was illegal though, wonder what they would do in China or Singapore to the executives in a case like this….here they’ll walk free though. They’re getting people to work below the breadline, so maybe they should spend some time in physical and mental destitution too. Hell, if I stole however many thousands the pay shortfall adds up to, I’d be in a cell and then struggling to get a job afterwards.
Be interesting to see who wins this …P&O or workers in the UK. Wonder what side the UK govt will come down on.
The salary level isn’t the crux of this for P&O, the time on/time off arrangement is. Even upping the pay on the new contracts to on par to what P&O’s previous staff were on would still leave those in the roles on a fraction of what their predecessors were on
How can anybody force them to do anything? I don’t even think it’s even registered as a UK company.