“I have already contacted my counterparts in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany to raise the issue of a minimum wage for maritime workers on direct routes between our countries,” Transport Minister Grant announced on Wednesday. Shapps in Parliament, adding that he had already received "a very positive response" from the French side.

“Most maritime law is governed by international rules, obligations and treaties, which means that we cannot hope to solve these problems alone,” argued Mr. Shapps, specifying his intention to establish “ minimum wage corridors" on intra-European maritime links.

The overnight dismissal on March 17 of 800 seafarers by P&O, which replaces them with outsourced workers paid an average of 5.5 pounds (6.5 euros) per hour, well below the British minimum wage, does not continues to make waves in the UK.

The Minister for Transport unveiled before the British Parliament on Wednesday a series of measures intended to guarantee working and safety conditions on ferries traveling to or from the United Kingdom or within the country.

In particular, he intends to give British ports the power to refuse access to ferry companies that do not pay their employees the minimum wage.

Controls will be reinforced, both in terms of working conditions and safety on ships, warned the minister, while the maritime authorities have immobilized two P&O ships in recent days, one in Dover and the other in Larne in Northern Ireland, due to deficiencies in documentation, emergency equipment and crew training.

In addition, companies that have not made reasonable efforts to negotiate before laying off their employees may be inflicted with a 25% increase in severance pay, Mr. Shapps further announced.

It is "far too little, far too late", immediately tackled the general secretary of the RMT sectoral union Mick Lynch in a press release, calling on the government to "faster and more radical reforms to save British seafarers".

"The prime minister has repeatedly told parliament that the government will take legal action to save the jobs" of P&O seafarers, "but he hasn't kept his word," he lamented.

© 2022 AFP