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Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said a law to make ferry firms pay the minimum wage could force him to do so if he did not reverse a decision to fire crew. Mr Shapps also repeated his call for the P&O Ferries chief to quit. The company prompted outrage on March 17 when it announced it would be replacing staff immediately with agency workers paid less than the minimum wage. It led to protests by workers and unions at ports across Britain.<\/p>\n
The Transport Secretary wrote to the chief executive and said: “A reversal at this point may also go some way in starting to repair your firm’s reputation,” which he said had been left in “tatters”.<\/p>\n
Mr Shapps also suggested that the company dropped a March 31 deadline given to staff to respond to redundancy offers.<\/p>\n
Mr Hebblethwaite admitted last week that the firings – blamed on a £100million a year loss – without consulting unions first had broken the law. However, he said no union would have accepted the plan and it was easier to compensate employees “in full” instead.<\/p>\n
Mr Shapps said the chief executive’s attitude showed “contempt for workers who have given years of service at your company”.<\/p>\n
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Ministers plan to force all ferry firms operating from UK ports to pay at least the national minimum wage.Yesterday, a second P&O ferry, the Pride of Kent, was detained at Dover after it failed safety checks.<\/p>\n
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency declared the vessel had failed to pass an inspection.<\/p>\n
The European Causeway had been held in Larne, Northern Ireland, last week over concerns whether it was fit to sail.<\/p>\n