P&O FERRIES boss Peter Hebblethwaite should “be in the dock,” seafarers’ union RMT said today after the law-breaking CEO admitted in Parliament workers on its ferries were paid under £5 an hour.

The TUC said Mr Hebblethwaite had shown “zero remorse” for illegal sackings and poverty pay after he admitted he couldn’t live himself on seafarers’ wages.

Peter Hebblethwaite repeatedly told MPs on the business and trade committee today that P&O’s workers were not being exploited, while resisting calls for an independent investigation into the company’s employment practices.

The chief executive, who acknowledged he could not live on the £4.87 per hour some P&O staff are now on, also revealed he earned £508,000 including a £183,000 bonus last year.

Mr Hebblethwaite said: “We are paying considerably ahead of the international minimum standard.

“We believe that it is right that as an international business operating in international waters, we should be governed by international law.”

More than 780 workers were fired by the company two years ago and replaced with low-paid workers employed by an external crewing agency.

Sacked workers were not given any notice and their unions were not consulted.

The Insolvency Service later said it would not pursue criminal proceedings against the company, which has been owned by Dubai-based DP World since 2019, despite Mr Hebblethwaite having admitted in Parliament that the mass sacking had been unlawful.

It replaced the sacked workers with overseas agency staff and told Parliament in 2022 its agency workers’ pay averaged £5.50 per hour.

Investigations later revealed the real £4.87 wage, which Mr Hebblethwaite confirmed today.

The minimum wage in Britain was £10.42 an hour at the time and rose to £11.44 an hour in April.

But for maritime workers employed by an overseas agency, who work on ships which are foreign-registered in international waters, the rates do not apply.

Committee chairman Liam Byrne asked Mr Hebblethwaite: “Are you basically a modern-day pirate?”

Mr Hebblethwaite did not respond directly but said “No, I couldn’t” when then asked by Mr Byrne: “Do you think you could live on £4.87 an hour?”

The TUC said the scandal is further proof that Labour’s New Deal for Working People is urgently needed.

General secretary Paul Nowak said: “It beggars belief that P&O Ferries has faced no sanctions for its misdeeds and that its parent company DP World has continued to be awarded government contracts.”

Mr Nowak said the government “have serious questions to answer for rewarding DP World’s mistreatment of their workforce.”

“This sorry saga is further proof of why we need a New Deal for Working People and a mandatory seafarers’ charter to protect seafarers,” he added.

“For too long parts of our labour market have resembled the wild west – with many seafarers particularly exposed to hyper-exploitation and a lack of enforceable rights.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said Mr Hebblethwaite “should be in the dock” for what his company is responsible for.

“Yet he is allowed to pontificate in Parliament, failing several times to be accurate and retaining bumper bonuses throughout his tenure as the head of P&O Ferries,” he said.

“Maritime communities have not recovered from the mass sackings of seafarers in 2022 and the government has not passed laws that will help deter other employers doing the same thing in the future.

“Our shipping industry needs investment in skills, good terms and conditions for ratings and companies like DP World… to be ejected from the country to prevent mass exploitation of seafarers.”

The government promised to close the wage loophole two years ago after the P&O Ferries job cuts and said earlier this year that it expects new legislation addressing the issue to become active this summer.

Mr Hebblethwaite recently agreed to sign a voluntary government Seafarers’ Charter which commits it to pay maritime workers at least the minimum wage in British waters.

He said the company would sign the charter “within months.”

When asked whether the legal changes would result in more lay-offs and large-scale staffing changes, Mr Hebblethwaite would not give a guarantee either way.