A week after 800 P&O Ferries workers lost their jobs without notice, the CEO of the company is now facing calls to lose his. Peter Hebblethwaite is under pressure from the British government to resign after he admitted the company had broken the law.
Facing questions over the video call sacking of his employees, Hebblethwaite said P&O had decided not to engage with trade unions in advance of the move, in breach of UK employment law. He told a parliamentary hearing: “There is absolutely no doubt we were required to consult with the unions. We chose not to do that.”
He added: “It was our assessment that […] no union could accept our proposals.”
The hearing looked uncomfortable for the CEO, who said he was trying to save the business and would make the same decision again. MPs did not hold back, with the business committee chair, Darren Jones, asking him: “Are you in this mess because you do not know what you are doing, or are you just a shameless criminal?”
Another MP described recent events as a “tale of corporate thuggery where a huge company thinks it can break the law with impunity”.
For its part, P&O claims the company could not continue without the mass redundancies and says workers are receiving generous settlement packages – at least 15,000 – to compensate for the breaching of regulations.
Currently, individual workers sacked without notice would be able to use employment law claim for up to 90 days’ pay. This cap allowed P&O to calculate in advance...
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