SHIPS OF SHAME

Some of the country’s best known ferry and cruise holiday companies are paying staff well below the National Minimum Wage, with some rates as low as £2.35 and hour, RMT research has revealed. P&O, Condor, Irish Ferries and Stena are amongst a number of well-known companies revealed to be paying below the minimum wage rate of £6.31 an hour on what the union has dubbed ‘ships of shame’. Popular routes where the exploitation is taking place include Portsmouth to the Channel Islands, Liverpool to Dublin, Hull to Holland, Harwich to Holland, Holyhead to Dublin and Aberdeen to the Orkney and Shetland Isles. This exploitation continues despite the shipping industry being in receipt of around £1.5 billion in tax breaks from the UK taxpayer and the Minimum Wage Minister Jenny Willot MP that the government would be cracking down on employers in the shipping industry that dodge the National Minimum Wage. “Where employers in the maritime industry are found to not be paying the national minimum wage that workers are entitled to, we will not hesitate to take action, including recovering arrears owed to workers and penalising employers financially and their reputation by naming and shaming where appropriate.” - Hansard, June 12 2014 RMT-backed MPs marked the International Maritime Organisation's Day of the Seafarer on June 25 by tabling Early Day Motion 160 calling for the government to outlaw this exploitation of seafarers' pay. RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash said that while shipping companies were raking in a tax break to the tune of £1.5 billion the shameful practice of dodging minimum wage provisions continues unchecked despite assurances from ministers that they would be cracking down on such outrageous abuse in the maritime sector. "Once again we find that big names in the cruise and ferry industry are up to their necks in this scandal, as well as maritime freight operators like Seatruck. “Passengers, businesses and politicians should take note that some staff are paid little more than a third of the statutory minimum wage,” he said. SHIPS OF SHAME RMT demands action against companies paying seafarers below the national minimum wage RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: july/aug 2014 :: RMTnews 10 EDM 160: DAY OF THE SEAFARER 2014 That this House recognises 25th June as Day of the Seafarer; notes the critical economic, social and cultural importance of the UK’s 10,840 officers, 8,590 ratings and 1,990 officer cadets working at sea today; expresses dismay at the ongoing decline in the number of registered UK seafarers, with a 30% fall in the number of ratings alone since 2011; notes this decline is largely due to the continued exclusion of seafarers from the full protections of the National Minimum Wage and the Equality Act which has allowed the undercutting of employment standards in the maritime industry; further notes that this has resulted in pay rates for seafarers in the UK ferry industry as low as £2.35 per hour whilst shipowners in the Tonnage Tax scheme are benefitting from tax relief currently standing at over £1.5 billion; supports the RMT maritime union’s Ships of Shame campaign which highlights this exploitation of seafarers; and calls upon the Government to mark Day of the Seafarer by committing to full enforcement of the National Minimum Wage in the maritime sector and implementation of the recommendation of the Government commissioned Carter Review which called for the end of differential pay in the shipping industry. Sponsored by Karl Turner http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2014-15/160 £ million Financial year Reduction in tax liabilities 2000-01 60 2001-02 65 2002-03 70 2003-04 80 2004-05 90 2005-06 90 2006-07 100 2007-08 170 2008-09 225 2009-10 95 2010-11 100 2011-12 90 2012-13 110 2013-14 105 Total £1.45 billion A written parliamentary answer of February 6 2014 to John McDonnell MP stated that the new estimate of reduction in tax liabilities for shipping companies in the Tonnage Tax scheme is now £1.45 billion (gross). See below