The UK ports industry has described as “unworkable” ministers’ plans to ask port operators to block ferries with crews paid less than the minimum wage, the government’s signature policy response to outrage over the sacking of 800 workers without consultation by P&O Ferries.
The transport minister, Grant Shapps, told parliament on Wednesday that the government would write to the operators of British ports telling them to refuse access to companies that did not pay the UK minimum rate, in a move explicitly addressed at P&O.
He also outlined plans to create “minimum wage corridors” on ferry routes between the UK and Denmark, France, Germany and Ireland.
However, the ports industry immediately said it would be unable to carry out Shapps’s policy.
Richard Ballantyne, the chief executive of the British Ports Association, said: “While it’s right the government and the ferry industry look to improve employment rules and standards, the expectation that port authorities will need to enforce minimum wage rules in the shipping sector could be unworkable. This will place ports in a difficult legal predicament, especially before any legislation is in place.
“The ports industry is genuinely sympathetic towards the situation of the impacted seafarers. However, we would suggest that ports are not the competent authorities to enforce rules on employee salaries or working conditions in the shipping industry. We are concerned that the government is rushing to find a solution without considering the wider implications in the maritime sector.”
The RMT union, which represents ship workers, said it was “too little, too late”, and questioned whether the move would do anything to force P&O Ferries to reinstate the workers, many of whom are thought to have been paid more than the UK minimum wage before they were sacked.
P&O Ferries sparked further outrage and calls for action after its chief executive, Peter Hebblethwaite, acknowledged in extraordinary testimony to a parliamentary committee that the company had deliberately ignored employment law which requires companies to consult staff before making redundancies.
P&O Ferries intends to hire cheaper workers who would not be subject to UK minimum wage laws. It is owned by DP World, a Middle Eastern shipping and ports conglomerate that is ultimately owned by Dubai’s royal family. DP World boasted profits of $1.1bn in 2021.
Hebblethwaite, whose basic annual salary is £325,000, told MPs last week that the average pay of the agency crew is £5.50 an hour. The minimum wage in the UK for people aged 23 and over is £8.91 an hour.
Shapps has written to the Insolvency Service, the agency responsible for regulating company directors, saying he believed Hebblethwaite’s actions amounted to “sharp practices” that should disqualify him from leading a British company.
The government will seek to bring in primary legislation to amend the Harbours Act of 1965 to include the minimum wage provision. The government is obliged to consult the public before making changes, so it will seek to use the voluntary block to make sure “P&O Ferries can derive no benefit from the action they have disgracefully taken”, Shapps said.
However, an industry source said ports have a duty to be open to any legal vessel with legal cargo, and that advice from shipping lawyers made it very clear that “it’s not possible, even if we wanted the powers”.
The industry has also raised questions over how ports would be able to ascertain whether ferry workers were being paid less than minimum wage. It is thought to be more likely ports will end being forced to report suspected breaches of minimum wage laws to the government.
A Port of Dover spokesperson said: “Clearly this is something affecting all UK ports with international ferry services, and a consistent approach is needed. We expect this will be coordinated through UK port trade bodies.”
Mick Lynch, the RMT’s general secretary, said: “Despite all the bluster, Grant Shapps has failed to grasp the opportunity to adequately stand up to the banditry behaviour of P&O.
“This continued lack of action and courage has meant a ferry company owned by the Dubai royal family has been able to break our laws, disrupt our ports and ruin people’s lives with impunity. We will keep pressing the government to ensure justice for our members.”
P&O did not respond to a request for comment.
