FIGHTING FOR SEAFARERS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: sep/oct 2025 :: RMTnews 18 The incoming Labour government published the Employment Rights Bill in October last year following strong commitments that the party gave in opposition to legally binding protections for seafarers including a mandatory Seafarers Charter in the aftermath of the P&O Ferries’ scandal. The mandatory Seafarers Charter for the ferries sector, backed by Labour ministers on the first anniversary of the P&O scandal, is the mechanism to mandate minimum employment protections in the ferries sector. The union has used a series of meetings across government over recent months to ensure that the measures apply to seafarers. Firstly, the loophole in redundancy notification legislation that P&O Ferries used to sack our seafarer members and replace them with cheaper agency crew, without criminal or (to date) civil sanction has been closed. If the same act were repeated today, it would be a criminal offence regardless of the flag of the vessel or nationality of the seafarers. Secondly, the amount of protective award an Employment Tribunal can make to a seafarer will double from 90 to 180 days, although the union believes that this should be uncapped with a minimum protective award set at 180 days. RMT’s consistent pressure has also secured a commitment to look again at ‘injunctive relief’, which would prevent a P&O-style employer from breaking the law. Injunctive relief would give the union power to go to court to stop a breach of employment rights before the breach took effect, rather than having to wait for a tribunal which can only order compensation. In addition, the union has been campaigning to ensure that seafarers have the full protection of the Employment Rights Bill in a similar way to land based workers. This has been a challenging area of discussion with government, with officials arguing that there could be constraints arising from the complexities of international maritime law. RMT Parliamentary Group convener, John McDonnell MP and Labour Peers, including employment rights barrister, Lord John Hendy KC tabled amendments to the Bill to bring the government to the table to ensure that measures like fire and replace protections, trade union recognition, zero hour contracts, blacklisting and other measures from the Employment Rights Bill apply to seafarers working on ‘GB- linked ships’ - crew on ships that call in a UK port at least 120 times per year. In the Commons, John McDonnell MP made it clear that as well as a strong mandatory Seafarers Charter, application of the Employment Rights Bill in full to seafarers, must be an ambition, in line with long standing RMT policy to equalise seafarers’ employment rights with land- based workers. When the Bill passed into the Lords the union worked with Lord Bryn Davies on amendments based on those tabled in the Commons by John McDonnell. Lord Davies secured commitments from the government to further meetings with the maritime trade unions to discuss how to strengthen the Bill’s application to seafarers and the detail of the mandatory Seafarers Charter. Leading RMT officials met with the Maritime Minister Mike Kane MP who agreed to look at ensuring flexibility to add sick pay, holiday pay, pensions and other mandatory provisions in the mandatory Seafarers Charter, in addition to pay and roster patterns. Lord Hendy also submitted amendments seeking to strengthen employment rights for all seafarers on ‘GB-linked ships’ by extending the Bill’s provisions in full to seafarers. The TUC and maritime unions also wrote to Mike Kane and Employment Minister, Justin Madders MP asking for a Seafarers Charter working group to progress government commitments and demonstrate the results to seafarers across the industry. FIGHTING FOR SEAFARERS RMT campaigns to strengthen the Employment Rights Bill for seafarers