The boss of P&O Ferries who presided over the mass sacking of hundreds of workers has quit his role. Chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite sparked outrage after he sacked 800 staff and replaced them with cheaper agency workers in March 2022. P&O Ferries told the BBC Mr Hebblethwaite was resigning to “dedicate more time to family matters”. Following the public outrage over the scandal, Mr Hebblethwaite admitted to MPs that the sackings broke UK employment law, but argued that the action was not illegal at a further committee meeting in May last year.
P&O Ferries said on Friday it “extends its gratitude to Peter Hebblethwaite for his contributions as CEO over the past four years”. “During his tenure, the company navigated the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, initiated a path towards financial stability, and introduced the world’s first large double-ended hybrid ferries on the Dover-Calais route, thereby enhancing sustainability,” the company said. At the time of the mass sackings, hundreds of people protested in Dover, Liverpool, and Hull.
The RMT union which represents seafarers said it was “looking forward to a Hebblethwaite-free ferry industry”, describing him as a “corporate pirate”. Trade union Nautilus said his actions demonstrated “the need for a mandatory seafarers’ charter and for stronger protections for workers in general”. Since scandal emerged, the government has drafted legislation aimed at preventing similar firings happening in the future.
The Employment Rights Bill aims to end fire and rehire practices and contains a package of seafarer protections in response to the P&O Ferries scandal. Mr Hebblethwaite told MPs at a committee hearing in March 2022 there was “absolutely no doubt” that under UK employment law the firm was required to consult unions before making the mass cuts. However, he said no union would have accepted the plan and it was easier to compensate workers “in full” instead.
In May last year, looking at workers’ rights and protection, Mr Hebblethwaite said that Section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act “recognises that it is not always possible to consult”. He told MPs he was deeply sorry for the redundancies and claimed “we would not make that decision again”. He added that he would not be able to live on the £4.87 an hour rate that some of the agency crew were being paid at the time, which included overtime and bonuses. He also revealed he earned more than £500,000 in 2023.
P&O Ferries did not face criminal action over the way it fired its employees with the Insolvency Service saying there was no realistic prospect of a conviction. However, a civil investigation is ongoing, which the government agency said it was “working hard to complete at the soonest opportunity”. “It is vital, for all those involved, that we assess carefully all the information available to us,” the Insolvency Service said. Mr Hebblethwaite was a former executive at J Sainsbury, Greene King, and Alliance Unichem before joining P&O Ferries in 2019. He then took over as chief executive two years later.
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