Transport Secretary Grant Shapps wrote to CEO Peter Hebblethwaite on Monday, explaining his intention to legislate, informing him that P&O Ferries “would have little choice but to overturn your decision anyway.” He warned Hebblethwaite that his position as managing director and director “has become unfounded”. In the letter, which Shapps tweeted, he also described plans to introduce a package of measures to “block P & O Ferries’ goal, including lower wages.” It came as the Commons Committees on Transport and Business wrote a joint letter to Shapps demanding that Hebblethwaite be removed as company director as an “inappropriate and appropriate person” after he “denounced his contempt for the law” at last week’s mass hearings. March 17 redundancies in P&O Ferries fleet in the United Kingdom. Hebblethwaite acknowledged that the company had violated the law by firing workers without consultation, amid plans to bring in cheaper agency staff with lower minimum wages, saying: “There is absolutely no doubt we should have consulted with the unions. We chose not to do it. “ The lawmakers also urged the government to impose the “unlimited fine” it has threatened if it decides P&O Ferries has violated laws requiring it to notify authorities of impending layoffs. Documents released by the committees show that P&O Ferries’ Jersey’s office sent Insolvency Service forms on March 17 – the day of dismissal and not with the required 30-45 day notice – to the competent state flag authorities for ships in Bermuda, Cyprus, and the Bahamas. The leaflets clarify the legal obligation to notify, but also state: “If it is not reasonably possible for you to comply with the minimum notice periods, you should make every effort to do so. “You must state the reasons why you were not able to provide the information in a timely manner.” The director of the local P&O Ferries agency wrote in the paper that no notice was given because: “In order to minimize the interruption of the vital services we perform on major waterways, it was necessary for the company to carry out the restructuring as quickly and efficiently as possible. ” Subscribe to the daily Business Today email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk The unions met with two other major UK ferry operators, DFDS and Stena Line, and government officials on Monday to discuss the crisis and alternative services. RMT Secretary-General Mick Lynch said: “The laid-off workers need to be rehabilitated and we need regulation and legislation to secure the jobs of UK-based seafarers and the agreed employment contracts.” P&O services from Dover to Calais have been canceled until this Thursday and flights between Larne in Northern Ireland and Cairnryan in Scotland remain suspended. The Hull-Rotterdam route was canceled, but the Liverpool-Dublin route continued on Monday.
