P&O Ferries says it cannot meet government demands to rehire the 800 workers it sacked.
Doing so would lead to its financial collapse, P&O Ferries Chief Executive Peter Hebblethwaite says.
“The circumstances which led P&O Ferries to make the decision in the first place still apply,” Hebblethwaite told Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in a written response.
“Complying with your request would deliberately cause the company’s collapse, resulting in the irretrievable loss of an additional 2,200 jobs. I cannot imagine that you would wish to compel an employer to bring about its own downfall.”
The government had given P&O Ferries ‘one further opportunity to reverse this decision.’
“The past week has left the reputation of P&O Ferries and, I’m afraid, you personally in tatters,” Shapps wrote in an earlier letter.
“This government will not stand by while the requirement to treat seafarers with due respect and fairness is brazenly ignored.”
Meanwhile, a second P&O Ferries vessel has been detained over alleged insufficient new crew training and documentation.
