{"id":23095,"date":"2020-08-07T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=23095"},"modified":"2020-08-07T12:53:01","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T11:53:01","slug":"wish-you-were-here-to-save-aviation-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=23095","title":{"rendered":"‘Wish you were here – to save aviation jobs’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UK-wide protests will be held between Saturday 8 August and Monday 10 August to demand chancellor Rishi Sunak prevents the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aviation industry from being \u00e2\u20ac\u0098devastated\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 by fulfilling his promise to provide support for the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast to the crisis hit airports currently seen around the country, August 9 marked the busiest day of 2019 for global air travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 60,000 redundancies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c equivalent to the population of Tunbridge Wells \u00e2\u20ac\u201c at airlines, airports and other aviation-related businesses have already been announced, however the government is yet to implement a plan to secure the sector\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is in stark difference to the decisive and job saving actions taken by other countries, such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, in relation to their aviation sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of Unite will be demonstrating outside of airports and other locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as campaigning on social media, to demand \u00e2\u20ac\u0098immediate government support\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite is also urging members of the public to send Rishi Sunak a digital \u00e2\u20ac\u0098wish you were here\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 to save UK aviation jobs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 postcard.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The union said aviation workers are \u00e2\u20ac\u0098desperate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for Rishi Sunak to keep a pledge he made in March to support the sector. This would allow it to weather the temporary impacts of Covid-19 and protect the quarter of a million jobs it supports directly, as well as the more than one million it supports indirectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn March, Rishi Sunak pledged assistance for the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aviation sector, which supports well over a million jobs directly and indirectly and contributes \u00c2\u014122 billion to the economy every year,” said Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland. “Over four months later, help is still yet to arrive, with thousands of jobs lost as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government has ignored warning after warning in the months since the pandemic began and this crucial industry is now facing being devastated, even as other countries have taken decisive steps to protect their aviation sectors. Mr Sunak must follow their example and take urgent action.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite national officer Oliver Richardson added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUK aviation workers, as well as the communities and businesses that rely on the sector, are desperate for Mr Sunak to keep his word. He must provide immediate government support so the industry can weather the temporary impacts of the pandemic and emerge once again as a vital driver of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is also crucial that employers avoid knee-jerk reactions and take the approach of firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such as Ryanair, where redundancies have been prevented by working with Unite on measures like temporary tiered pay reductions and job pooling.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together with the TUC and all aviation unions, Unite is calling for the government to adopt the economic and fiscal measures needed to support the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include the extension of, and modifications to, the coronavirus job retention scheme to protect employment in the aviation sector; the suspension of air passenger duty; public service obligation routes to ensure regional connectivity; business rate relief for airports (as in Scotland and Northern Ireland); and extending the period of repayment of loans to aviation companies beyond the current two year maximum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c2\u00a0The full list of measures can be found on Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s urgent summer update<\/a> to its \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Flying into the Future\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 blueprint, which was produced in March in response to the coronavirus crisis. The full blueprint can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protests will be held on Saturday, August 8 in Birmingham, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh and East Midlands airport, while on Monday, August 10, protests will be held in Stansted, Heathrow and Bristol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find out more by contacting your regional office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Ryan Fletcher<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UK-wide protests will be held between Saturday 8 August and Monday 10 August to demand chancellor Rishi Sunak prevents the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aviation industry from being \u00e2\u20ac\u0098devastated\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 by fulfilling his promise to provide support for the sector. In contrast to the crisis hit airports currently seen around the country, August 9 marked the busiest day of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,1],"tags":[589,1295],"wps_subtitle":"UK protests urge chancellor to keep aviation promise and prevent industry being \u00e2\u20ac\u0098devastated\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23095"}],"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=23095"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23103,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23095\/revisions\/23103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}