{"id":21871,"date":"2020-06-02T16:25:12","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T15:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=21871"},"modified":"2020-06-02T16:25:12","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T15:25:12","slug":"grim-times-for-heathrows-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=21871","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Grim\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 times for Heathrow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workers?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGrim\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 was how Unite described a warning today (June 2) from Hounslow council in west London that its local economy will be devastated by the substantial downturn of activity at nearby Heathrow airport, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Hounslow council is warning that a third of the 100,000 households in the borough could be affected by job losses \u00e2\u20ac\u201c shrinking the local economy and contracting it by a massive 40 per cent.<\/p>\n

In total 84,400 people are directly employed at the airport, which hosts 320 businesses making it the largest workplace in Europe.<\/p>\n

Last week Unite published research<\/a> which underlined Heathrow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s importance to the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economy. Generating \u00c2\u01419.7bn in income, it supports around 190,000 jobs across the UK. And it employs 40 per cent of the local area\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workforce.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHounslow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s warning about job losses puts a human face on the terrible predicament the aviation sector faces now and will continue to face\u00c2\u00a0without urgent\u00c2\u00a0government support,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe aviation sector will recover from the pandemic \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but it must be given time in which to do so. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it is vital that the government provides a bespoke package of support for the industry.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe chancellor first promised such a package in March but over two months later nothing has been forthcoming. Businesses also have a responsibility to play their part. Employers need to exhaust all options before making job losses and redundancies must be minimised.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWorkers have made those businesses the success they are today and as the industry recovers it is vital that their skills, commitment and loyalty are not lost from the sector.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

King went onto say, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe people who live in Hounslow and surrounding areas play vital roles at Heathrow.\u00c2\u00a0 They are the security guards, cleaners, baggage handlers and caterers, or they\u00c2\u00a0work in the retail outlets, all of which keep the airports functioning.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany of them have worked there all their lives.\u00c2\u00a0The\u00c2\u00a0loss of their jobs would be absolutely devastating \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for them,\u00c2\u00a0their families and for all the Hounslow community.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Unite, representing over 68,000 workers in the aviation sector, has produced a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098blueprint\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/a> of how the government should intervene across the entire aviation sector including airlines and airports to protect the jobs and conditions of workers.<\/p>\n

Loans would come with strict strings attached regarding executive pay, corporate governance and requiring stringent environmental standards to be adopted to radically reduce the industry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s carbon footprint.<\/p>\n

During the coronavirus crisis<\/a> Unite is working to keep workers and the public safe, to defend jobs and to protect incomes.<\/p>\n

By Barckley Sumner\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hounslow council is warning that a third of the 100,000 households in the borough could be affected by job losses \u00e2\u20ac\u201c shrinking the local economy and contracting it by a massive 40 per cent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,1],"tags":[589,511,195,126],"wps_subtitle":"Local Heathrow town Hounslow could lose 40 pc of jobs if govt fails to support aviation sector now","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21871"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21871"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21873,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21871\/revisions\/21873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}