MARITIME workers will be protesting outside the Department for Transport today, after Chris Grayling refused to ensure union rights and decent pay on Brexit ferry services.

The RMT union are demanding that the Transport Secretary ensures that Brexit ferry services, which will spring up in the event of a no-deal Brexit, will be crewed by unionised British seafarers and subject to British employment law.

In Parliament yesterday, Labour MP Grahame Morris asked if Mr Grayling “has any idea” how he would organise and crew the ferries.

However, Mr Grayling refused to commit to any of the RMT’s demands, sparking concern that the ferries may be staffed by foreign nationals who will be paid poverty wages.

The RMT said that the only response it has received has been an “outburst” from Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani, who the union has accused of ignoring their concerns.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “RMT has no intention of allowing any backsliding or any stitch-ups of British seafarers.

“We will not allow the scandal of the ships of shame in British waters, where poverty pay below the minimum wage and shocking working conditions are endemic, to roll over to these contracts.

“We will be taking that message direct to Chris Grayling in the wake of his Brexit contracts on Friday.

“We expect him, and the companies he has contracted, to meet our demands in full as a matter of urgency and to start taking the issues we have raised seriously.”