Displaying items by tag: Seafarers wages

8th July 2022

UK Bill Launched to Ensure Seafarers are Paid Minimum Wage after P&O Ferries Sackings

New UK bill on seafarers regularly calling to ports, among them P&O Ferries

Ships which regularly come into UK ports along with seafarers will now be paid the minimum wage.

The government has introduced a new bill to stop firms using legal loopholes to pay low wages, following the P&O Ferries mass sackings.

The Government says the company's decision to dismiss 800 'loyal and hardworking workers' without consultation or notice, resulted in ministers taking immediate action to begin changing the law on seafarer pay protection.

The Seafarers’ Wages Bill, introduced in the House of Lords on Wednesday (6 July), enables port authorities to deny access to services calling regularly at UK ports which do not pay workers equivalent rate to the UK National Minimum Wage (NMWe) for time spent in UK waters – closing a legal loophole which was exploited by P&O Ferries.

Maritime Minister Robert Courts said: “Britain’s rich maritime history and exciting future is thanks to the extraordinary men and women who work at sea.

“Fair pay for seafarers is a must, and the new laws we’ve introduced in Parliament today send a clear signal to operators that the UK will not let seafarers be priced out of their jobs by rogue bosses.”

Following P&O Ferries’ mass sackings in March, the Government launched a consultation on the Seafarers’ Wages Bill in May 2022.

More here ITV News reports on the new seafarers wage bill.

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour