P&O bosses have been issued with a deadline to come up with answers – as they faced fresh claims some foreign workers are paid less than £2 an hour.
Unions say the P&O Ferries scandal, in which it sacked 800 crew on the spot, replacing them with cheaper agency workers, had shone a light on a “race to the bottom”.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has ordered P&O to answer a string of questions by 5pm tomorrow at the latest.
However, it came amid reports Government officials knew about P&O Ferries’ mass sacking plans.
According to the Sunday Times, Department for Transport civil servants were told on Wednesday night of the plans to replace loyal workers with cheaper agency staff with no notice.
Yet they wrote the action would “ensure that they remain a key player in the UK market for years to come”.
MPs, unions, church leaders and others condemned P&O, owned by Dubai logistics giant DP World.
Lawyers believe P&O may have acted illegally.
Kwarteng, in his letter to P&O, said: “Failure to meet the notification obligation is a criminal offence and can lead to an unlimited fine.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak yesterday said: “The way they have treated their workers is awful, it’s wrong. We are examining not just those actions and whether they comply with the regulations as they should have done but also our own relationship with the company.”
Unions claim shipping firms use loopholes to employ cheap foreign labour on vessels regularly plying their trade in UK waters.
It’s said some use “flags of convenience” to register vessels in far-flung countries which, among other things, allows them freedom
on pay rates if the ship is in international waters. That would apply, for example, on a ferry travelling from the UK to France.
However, a ferry servicing the Scottish islands would have to pay staff Britain’s national minimum wage of £8.91 an hour, rising to £9.50 on April 1.
It is claimed the use of cheap overseas labour in this way is undercutting UK workers.
RMT general secretary Mike Lynch said: “It has led to widespread exploitation. It is a race to the bottom.”
Labour MP for Hull Karl Turner said Filipino crew on P&O’s Pride of Rotterdam service to the Netherlands were being paid just £1.80 an hour.
He called on ministers to take control of P&O’s ferries adding: “If they won’t honour the law, then they should take control of those vessels and put our people back to work and be the operator of last resort.”
P&O did not respond to requests for comment.
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