P&O workers on £4.87 an hour

[hifinutt]

we see concern at sweatshops wages but here is a massive company used by many

The boss of P&O Ferries has admitted that he couldn't live on the £4.87 an hour some of its crew are paid, he told MPs.

Peter Hebblethwaite also revealed that he earned more than £500,000 last year, including a bonus

Mr Hebblethwaite told MPs that the agency workers P&O now uses to crew its boats can be paid as little as £4.87 a hour- that includes overtime and bonuses. On average, P&O workers make £5.20 an hour.

The chief executive said crew is paid in excess of the minimum basic wage set out by international law.

“We are paying considerably ahead of the international standard," he said.

Mr Hebblethwaite said: "We are paying considerably ahead of the international minimum standard.

"We believe that it is right that as an international business operating in international waters, we should be governed by international law."

P&O boss admits he couldn't live on £4.87 an hour crew pay

Ferry group chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite earned more than £500,000 last year.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bob McC]

P&O cross channel ferries now have to pay the French minimum wage of £9.96 an hour and for every 14 day shift they must be given 14 days off since France changed their laws specifically to deal with P&O.

Why can’t we at least say the same to any P&O ship docking in the U.K.?

https://www.itv.com/news/2024-03-20/france-changes-law-on-ferry-crew-wages-after-conditions-deemed-not-moral

 

[Bjork67]

Scum and hope customers are fully informed on this.

 

[gez]

WOW! I had no idea there was such a loophole in the minimum wage system. I had naively presumed any UK citizen would be paid minimum wage if their employment was contracted in the UK.

 

[glenda]

They recently sponsored Hull KR rugby league team, I think that it only lasted a couple of days before the weight of the backlash made the club change its mind.
To concur with an earlier poster, this company is indeed scum.

 

[Somafunk]

My mate was one of the P&O ferry workers who was sacked after 18 years with the company, he worked for them on the Cairnryan to Larne route as chief navigational officer but was waiting to be promoted to captain as he completed the exams a few years previously.

(He joined Maersk from school in 1989 and worked deep sea /gas ships/containers for 14 years before joining P&O due to new baby and how 4 months at sea at a time didn’t work for a relationship)

All the P&O workers were removed with the aid of security goons who followed them to their cabins to make sure they didn’t try and protest/lock themselves in and the foreign workers were waiting in buses on the dockside to replace them all, the only UK based worker now on the ferry is the captain, the captain was told that if he protested or spoke to the waiting reporters then he would be sacked on the spot and his pension rights would be affected.

Total scum of a company and the UK government allowed itself to be shafted right up the arse regarding the workers rights and did absolutely nothing about it.

 

[Somafunk]

WOW! I had no idea there was such a loophole in the minimum wage system. I had naively presumed any UK citizen would be paid minimum wage if their employment was contracted in the UK.

There are no UK citizens working on the ferries except for the captain

 

[Bob McC]

WOW! I had no idea there was such a loophole in the minimum wage system. I had naively presumed any UK citizen would be paid minimum wage if their employment was contracted in the UK.

Most are not UK citizens

 

[Pravda]

"There is a legal loophole in that UK minimum wage rates, do not apply to maritime employees working for foreign agencies on ships registered abroad while in international waters. P&O is owned by Dubai-based DP World, allowing for this to happen.22 Mar 20249"
A company that's lower than their plimsoll line

 

[Minio]

boss of P&O Ferries has admitted that he couldn't live on the £4.87 an hour

Nor would anyone else in this country.
Rent and council taxes and overheads are in excess of that sort of income here.

 

[Nic Robinson]

Ever since they laid everyone off, we have not used them. Thankfully it isn't a monopoly and there is DFDS. I cannot imagine why they still get custom given what demonstrable scum they have been.

Bastards.

 

[ks.234]

"We believe that it is right that as an international business operating in international waters, we should be governed by international law."

We should be governed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Moral Law, not maritime law.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Given the chance, my guess is that would be the wage for everyone if Rees Mogg had the opportunity

 

[kensalriser]

The government did a lot of handwringing about this in 2022 but have done precisely nothing about it. It's almost as though it has no interest in helping ordinary working people. Meanwhile the French just got on with what was needed.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Weird that they say the company would go under if they had to pay staff a proper wage but they've still got the cash to pay the CEO £500k.

I guess he must be worth it. He's obviously doing such a brilliant job that they had to sack all their staff.

 

[Somafunk]

I figure I should mention that practically every shipping company, every cruise company also employs similar working and pay conditions, some will be paid even less and not get to return home for 5+ years at a time,

 

[davidsrsb]

It's called modern slavery. The West is very hypocritical about this.

 

[Pravda]

I figure I should mention that practically every shipping company, every cruise company also employs similar working and pay conditions, some will be paid even less and not get to return home for 5+ years at a time,

Brittany Ferries seem to be staffed by well educated French people, cant speak about the cleaners/change over staff, because you never see them.

But then its not cheap to travel on them

 

[Bob McC]

Brittany ferries pay French minimum wages with French working conditions.

 

[dweezil]

It's called modern slavery. The West is very hypocritical about this.

Strange how we warble on about how awful we were 200 years ago but still buy loads of stuff produced by slave labour in China.