London, March 22 (BNA) A British government-owned ferry company faces a deadline on Tuesday to explain why it has fired 800 workers without warning, while British authorities say they may seek criminal penalties if the company is proven to have acted. Illegally.
P&O Ferries fired crew members during a Zoom phone call last week and then sent security teams on board to fire the workers, sparking protests in ports about British unions alleging their members have been replaced by foreign workers hired through a third-party agency. And they charge $2.38 an hour, the AP reports.
The British government notified P&O that the company appeared to have broken rules that require employers to consult with unions and notify authorities before laying off large numbers of workers. The government wants to know why the company thinks the rules don’t apply to P&O.
Business Secretary Paul Scully, who is responsible for labor issues, told Sky News: “It’s important that we get the finer details…and we need to get them all in one place, because there are criminal penalties involved in that, including an unlimited fine.” .
British law requires employers to consult with trade unions and pay the statutory minimum wage, now 8.91 pounds ($11.75) an hour for workers aged 23 or older. But shipping companies sailing in international waters can avoid these rules by registering their ships in other countries.
P&O Ferries serves ports in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and the Netherlands. It is owned by the global logistics company DP World, a unit owned by the government of Dubai World.
Lawmakers on Monday criticized the British government for failing to take action to halt the layoffs, even though it had been given advance warning of the company’s plans.
Labor’s spokeswoman on transfer issues, Louise Hay, said she had obtained a note showing the government was aware of P&O’s “play plan”, but the document did not express any concern about the action.
“This is the clearest evidence that the government’s first instinct was to do absolutely nothing,” Hay told the Commons.
Scully on Tuesday dismissed that characterization, saying the government had no indication that P&O was planning to fire workers without following the correct procedures.
Scully said the government was informed of the planned layoffs in the afternoon before they occurred, but officials expected it to mark the beginning of the needed consultation process. He said P&O followed the correct procedures during previous layoffs.
Scully said the government did not anticipate the “extremely terrible situation that we have seen.”