Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, said the new laws would close the loopholes exploited by P&O when it fired 800 crew without warning in 2022, and any company would now face unlimited fines for acting in such a way.
Provisions in the employment rights bill designed for seafarers will toughen laws around collective dismissal. The government will also pass regulations making cross-Channel ferry operators pay the national minimum wage of £11.44 an hour from 1 December under the Seafarers' Wages Act.
The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, said the changes would "benefit good employers to compete on quality and innovation, rather than a race to the bottom".
P&O Ferries, and Irish Ferries before it, had substantially undercut competitors' staffing costs by using agency workers on low wages.
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