{"id":24405,"date":"2020-10-28T13:31:20","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T13:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=24405"},"modified":"2020-10-29T13:30:34","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T13:30:34","slug":"use-cash-mountain-for-staff-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=24405","title":{"rendered":"Use \u00e2\u20ac\u0098cash mountain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for staff call"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

HAL chief executive John Holland-Kaye said this morning that the company had cash reserves to carry it through the next two years at least – despite posting a \u00c2\u01411.5bn loss in the first nine months of this year.<\/p>\n

Holland-Kaye said on the Today<\/em> programme (October 28), “We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re very well-funded. We have cash that will carry us through for at least two years based on our forecasting. In fact, we could go for another 15 months, even if we had no passengers, which we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect to be happening. So, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in a very strong position and Heathrow will survive through this.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut we need to make sure we are getting the UK economy moving again. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest port, we are fundamental to this small island trading nation being such a successful economy and until we can get aviation moving again through testing, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to be able to help the UK economy recover and protect millions of jobs.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Unite responded by saying that HAL had got its priorities wrong \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with generous pay-outs to shareholders, including the Qatari royal family, one of the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wealthiest families, and well-padded remuneration packages for top HAL executives.<\/p>\n

Instead, HAL has issued notices to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098fire and rehire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 staff on vastly inferior pay and conditions which will mean workers losing up to \u00c2\u01418,000 per annum \u00e2\u20ac\u201c about 25\u00c2\u00a0per cent of their pay. The proposals will affect about 4,000 workers employed by HAL.<\/p>\n

Members of Unite employed directly by HAL, including security officers, engineers, airside operatives and firefighters, are currently balloting for industrial action over these plans with the ballot closing on\u00c2\u00a0Thursday November 5.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe remarks made by Heathrow Airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye boasting that the company had a cash mountain to tide it through the pandemic for the next two years shows a scant and callous disregard for those on the airport\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s frontline, such as security operatives and firefighters,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Unite regional coordinating officer Wayne King.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Brutal approach\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere seems to be one rule for the shareholders who have received handsome dividend payments and the generous remuneration packages for top executives, including John Holland-Kaye \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and another more brutal approach to those who can least afford cuts to pay.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHe has admitted that HAL is in a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098very strong\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 financial position, so now is the time to sit down with Unite for constructive talks to chart a fair and equitable way forward as we go through the Covid-19 crisis.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe issue here is not a lack of money, but how it is shared out. John Holland-Kaye has put the interests of shareholders well before that of his employees.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a sad indictment of his managerial style and not what is expected at a time of national crisis when social responsibility should complement the demands of the balance sheet.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDriving down the wages of our members will hit not just their packet packets in the run-up to Christmas, but the local economy in the Heathrow region with the possibility that restaurants, pubs and local shops being badly affected,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 King concluded.<\/p>\n

Recent Unite research has showed that 84,400 people are directly employed at the airport, which hosts 320 businesses making it the largest workplace in Europe. One in five of local jobs are based at the airport and 40 per cent of the workforce in the surrounding area is employed in the aviation sector.<\/p>\n

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

Heathrow Airport Ltd (HAL) needs to dip into its cash mountain to protect airport jobs during the pandemic, after its boss boasted that it had reserves for the next 15 months \u00e2\u20ac\u0098even if we had no passengers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, Unite said today (Wednesday, October 28).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1214],"tags":[1409,195,126],"wps_subtitle":"Unite: Heathrow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cash mountain should be used to help low paid staff threatened by \u00e2\u20ac\u0098fire and rehire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24405"}],"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=24405"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24408,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24405\/revisions\/24408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}