P&O cruise ship staff paid basic salary of 75p an hour Crew on British cruise holidays who are paid a basic salary of as little as 75p an hour face having extra tips from passengers withheld unless they hit performance targets. The boss of P&O Cruises said the move was part of a package to "make crew more responsive" and offer protection as tips dry up in the economic downturn. At the bottom end of the scale, a junior waiter on a ship sailing out of Southampton now earns a basic salary of £250 a month, for shifts lasting a minimum of 11 hours, seven days a week, with a possible £150 extra in bonuses. According to documents seen by the Guardian, this is "a significantly increased basic salary". Bonuses will be held back in part if customers' feedback ratings do not exceed targets, some of which stand at 96%. Cabin stewards whose attitude was ranked below 92% by customers will forfeit an entire bonus payment worth approximately 15% of their basic salary. Crew have been warned P&O's funding of the scheme "is dependent on the passengers paying their auto gratuities". Dingle said: "You've got staff from eastern Europe in restaurants in Britain â why? Because it's great money. Yes, the minimum wage is more than we pay, but this is a global industry, Our businesses have to remain competitive. "Let's not forget the level of take-home pay for our staff, the vast majority of whom come from India. Look at hotels in Goa. The earning ability is greater on our ships. ********** How out of order can you get? ****s
It's all well and good complaining, but people are taking these jobs. It just makes the people working for a minimal fee look really stupid, good bit of business by P&O, explains why the recession hasn't hurt them.
What the **** are you on about? Of course people are taking these jobs, they're desperate and P&O are exploiting that.
Even if you were desparate, why would you work for 75P an hour? If you check job websites, there's plenty of better paying jobs than that, it's typically just idiots who think a cruise is glamorous who take these jobs. Plus the large foreign labour market too, and they're willing to work for small wages.
I didn't paste the link to the article and didn't copy all of it, they have a recruitment office in Mumbai to profit from people's misery http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/apr/29/cruise-firm-performance-bonuses-tips
Not trusting the Guardian, I attempted to find out how much they really pay. There are no vacancies. Yes, that is the P&O careers site despite its name. Suggests to me they must be paying too much, after all, every large global company normally has positions to fill doesn't it?
After reading the article, i'm forced to agree with you, it is a shock that this is legal. I always assumed the basic minimum wage was there to stop incidents like this, seems there are some loopholes.
The article says they recruit from overseas, so the UK link for jobs won't have any positions advertised. Surely your example just proves they aren't employing following the usual guidelines?
It seems to be low pay by our standards but if they are being employed as foreigners registered abroad then it's probably not a bad wage. I've no idea how or indeed what employment laws apply to those spending their working lives in international waters.
these wages are decent in foreign countries like india. The current exchange rate is £1 to over 85 indian rupees and if you look at it in the sense that there is no expenditure on the cruises (ie food and lodgings are provided) then from an indian perspective these are good wages Also at the risk of sounding like a CT, why do you think the black market (mainly provided by illegal immigrants) is so vital to countries like Britain and France? If everyone worked for minimum wage we would be screwed do you think restaurant staff, car wah staff etc get minimum wage in this country? I personally know people who get £60 a week for 6 days work and its not a big secret as long as you dont take the piss no one worries
Officially they will pay UK minimum wage but deduct food and accommodation from that. It's perfectly legal and infact common practice with companies who give staff food and board as part of the job. A friend used to work with pgl the adventure holiday company, he got 2pounds an hour as the senior sailing instructor.
It's also worth noting that the Guardian slyly wrote "as little as 75p an hour" i.e. 75p/hour is the minimum paid. That might be during a probation or training period after which the pay goes up considerably. Who knows?
I also know of restaurant staff declaring earnings of £80pw but taking home in excess of £250 and a nice state funded top up for low income. Typically taking home around £350. Not bad when you consider no council tax, free medicine, free this, free that.
