{"id":22039,"date":"2020-06-11T15:37:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T14:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=22039"},"modified":"2020-06-11T15:37:17","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T14:37:17","slug":"dont-let-2020s-aviation-industry-become-the-new-1980s-coal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=22039","title":{"rendered":"Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let 2020\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aviation industry become the new 1980s\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 coal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new report out today (June 11) on the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aviation industry is saying as many as 124,000 jobs in the industry and its supply chain are at risk and could vanish in just three months as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a>, written jointly by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), with the Trades Union Congress (TUC), aviation unions including Unite, and climate action charity Possible, insists that without government bailouts designed around protecting workers, at least 70,000 jobs are likely to be lost.<\/p>\n

Of those, 39,000 are directly employed in aviation, with the remainder in the supply chain \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including jobs such as engineers and duty free shop assistants.<\/p>\n

The report goes on to describe this scale of job losses as equal to the collapse of Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coal industry in 1980-81. And the research authors warn that the true number of losses is likely to be higher by the end of the financial year next April.<\/p>\n

Calling on the government to expand its existing Covid-19 job retention scheme to include specific help for aviation industry workers, proposals include retraining staff whose jobs are vulnerable \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with some of the costs being covered by future taxes on the sector.<\/p>\n

It also recommends the government takes an equity stake in any businesses that are bailed out, with conditions attached to limit executive pay and shareholder dividends while requiring investment in green technology and carbonisation.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe aviation industry faces job losses on a par with the worst years of the UK coal industry decline in the 1980s,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 believes Alex Chapman, NEF researcher.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere are rock solid social and economic reasons for preventing the spike in unemployment which is being threatened by aviation bosses, and instead investing heavily in retraining and upskilling aviation workers to prepare them for a new normal, and the rapid decarbonisation of the UK economy,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

As reported in UNITElive \u00e2\u20ac\u201c on a daily basis almost \u00e2\u20ac\u201c airline workers have taken a massive hit with thousands of job cuts announced since the Covid-19 crisis began. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no doubt of the unprecedented, devastating impact Covid-19 has had on aviation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a fact recognised worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAviation is a critical part of our economic infrastructure and it supports tens of thousands of good jobs, commented TUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe sector has already been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and the implementation of the quarantine period is a further blow. We cannot consign these workers to the despair of unemployment.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAviation needs immediate support \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and not just to protect the incomes of billionaire airline owners. Government must act now to protect workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 jobs and livelihoods, to support the longer-term viability of the sector and to facilitate a just-transition to lower-carbon operations.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

“Tens if not hundreds of thousands of jobs are under threat”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland agreed. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of jobs are under threat without specific government support, given the unprecedented effect that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the aviation sector.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAviation is central to our economy and in linking people together, connecting\u00c2\u00a0regions and providing\u00c2\u00a0jobs. As an island we need a viable aviation sector for trade, medicines, mail and\u00c2\u00a0work. Air travel is far more than\u00c2\u00a0just\u00c2\u00a0a leisure activity.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGovernments in Europe and globally have provided financial support for their aviation sectors\u00c2\u00a0because they recognise it is vital to an economy,\u00c2\u00a0and the UK government needs to do the same,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

She continued, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe French government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s support for its aviation sector must serve as a wake-up call to our own government and also to prompt\u00c2\u00a0MPs and businesses alike \u00e2\u20ac\u201c because they\u00c2\u00a0need to be applying far greater pressure on our government to act decisively and bring forward support without further delay.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is three months since chancellor Rishi Sunak promised specific support for aviation as a result of the pandemic \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and we are still waiting.<\/p>\n

Holland concluded, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite believes given the right level of government support the aviation sector will return to viability once the UK emerges from the current pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has published a clear\u00c2\u00a0blueprint<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0which details a realistic manner in which the government can support the aviation sector, preserve jobs and boost regional connectivity.\u00c2\u00a0It is absolutely critical that the government adopts these principles and acts decisively and swiftly.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Compiled by Amanda Campbell @amanda_unite\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new report out today (June 11) on the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aviation industry is saying as many as 124,000 jobs in the industry and its supply chain are at risk and could vanish in just three months as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,1214],"tags":[589,511,1295,1234,126],"wps_subtitle":"Help us now or 124k jobs could go says new report","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22039"}],"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=22039"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22041,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22039\/revisions\/22041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}