After ‘seafarers lost their livelihoods overnight’ P&O bosses still escape accountability

In March 2022 P&O Ferries sacked almost 800 seafarers by pre-recorded video message. It then hired agency crew, on what then-RMT leader Mick Lynch called “poverty pay“.

P&O chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite admitted he wouldn’t be able to survive on the £4.87 effective hourly rate (after bonuses and overtime). Unsurprising, given he was earning over £500,000 before leaving the role “to dedicate more time to family matters”.

Seafarers union hits out

Following the mass sacking, government agency the Insolvency Service opened a criminal investigation. This concluded with the agency saying there was “no realistic prospect of a conviction“. The Trades Union Congress believed this was a mistake. It highlighted potential law breaking around directors’ duties, health and safety, and minimum wage legislation.

The Insolvency Service also opened a civil investigation. But this is still ongoing and the RMT has spoken up again. The RMT was one of two unions that represented P&O seafarers. The other was Nautilus International.

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey says sacked seafarers are “still waiting for answers”. The union says the delayed civil investigation is eroding confidence in the law. And it’s allowing senior figures involved in the 2022 scandal to escape accountability.

Such investigations should typically conclude in a little over six months.

The investigation, launched on 1 April 2022, relates to the mass dismissal of directly employed seafarers and their replacement with agency crew, many of whom have since been paid below the National Minimum Wage.

RMT has warned that the failure to reach a conclusion risks sending a signal that even the most egregious corporate law-breaking can go unpunished. And this is particularly the case when senior executives have already departed with bonus payments intact.

The union has also criticised the absence of any reference to the ongoing civil investigation in P&O Ferries’ recently published 2024 accounts.

RMT General Secretary Eddie Dempsey said:

Almost four years on from one of the most disgraceful acts of corporate law-breaking in modern British industrial history, workers are still waiting for answers.

This situation raises serious questions about whether company law is being enforced in the public interest or quietly shelved when powerful employers are involved.

Working people see directors walk away with bonuses intact at the same time as seafarers lost their livelihoods overnight.

This case illustrates wider weaknesses in company law enforcement and raises questions as to whether regulators are able to act in the public interest when employers openly breach the law.

The union has written to the Insolvency Service demanding an update on its investigation and pointing out that further delay will make the organisation look opaque and ineffective.

Featured image via the Canary