SAFETY BEFORE PROFITS!

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2022 :: RMTnews 12 RMT has vowed to keep the pressure on P&O ferries after the embattled company was forced into an embarrassing U- turn after trying to reduce agency workers rates of pay even further. The union had received reports of agency workers being forced to sign new contracts that further reduced pay to drastically low levels. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that due to the pressure from RMT seafarers, P&O had been prevented from further cutting the pay of vulnerable agency crew. “There are no depths to which P&O and their Dubai owners at DP world will sink to extract the maximum profit from ferry crews operating our vital maritime supply chains. “This is underlined by the fact that despite this U-turn, P&O is still only paying barely half of the UK minimum wage of £9.50 per hour. “Ultimately, staffing ships with super-exploited agency staff is not just morally wrong, it undercuts those remaining ferry operators who do abide by union rates of pay and conditions and undermines passenger safety. “The only way out of this latest crisis at the ferry operator is for the government to take over the running of P&O vessels and reinstate directly employed staff on union rates of pay,“ he said. The pressure on P&O Ferries increased last month after one of its vessels The European Causeway sailing from Scotland to Northern Ireland lost power off the County Antrim coast and has been ordered to remain at Larne Port until it passes an inspection. The Maritime And Coastguard Agency (MCA), which detained the vessel in March after it failed safety checks, said that the ferry will have to stay docked until it is reviewed. P&O also tried to claim that it did not ask agency workers to accept lower rates of pay by claiming that there was an "administrative misunderstanding". "The fact is P&O were caught trying to pay people from South America inferior wages to their counterparts in Europe and the MCA made change those contracts. "We have seen contracts of agency workers where they are being paid the equivalent of RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2022 :: RMTnews SAFETY BEFORE PROFITS! Union protest ports after P&O vessel that failed an inspection in March loses power in the Irish Sea Dover banner