Peter Hebblethwaite last appeared in front of a joint transport and business committee of MPs in March 2022 to respond to P&O Ferries controversially sacking 786 staff and replacing them with low-paid agency workers.
At that time he told MPs the lowest paid agency worker would receive £5.15 an hour. A Guardian and ITV News investigation this March found some P&O seafarers were receiving an hourly rate as low as £4.87.
Yesterday, in a fresh business and trade committee evidence session prompted by the reports, the chairman, Liam Byrne, opened by asking Hebblethwaite: "Are you basically a modern day pirate?" and added: "You seem to be robbing your staff blind." The ferry group's boss said "P&O would not be here today" without the mass sackings - before going on to admit that "the lowest, fully consolidated hourly pay is about £4.87".
This story is from the May 08, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the May 08, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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