{"id":28604,"date":"2021-04-26T20:11:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T19:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=28604"},"modified":"2021-04-26T20:11:25","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T19:11:25","slug":"outlaw-ruthless-fire-and-rehire-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=28604","title":{"rendered":"Outlaw ruthless \u00e2\u20ac\u0098fire and rehire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 practices"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Fire and rehire has been described by Unite general secretary Len McCluskey as being a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098disease that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ripping through our workplaces\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

TUC unions are fighting fierce battles against employers who are using\u00c2\u00a0the illegitimate tactic\u00c2\u00a0to\u00c2\u00a0opportunistically level down pay and conditions at a time when workers are worried about the impact of the\u00c2\u00a0Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

A number of unions have come up against the tactic including Unite at British Airways, Douwe Egberts coffee, and Go North West buses in Manchester, for example.<\/p>\n

They are\u00c2\u00a0levelling down pay and conditions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c often to zero-hours or short hours\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 contracts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c despite Boris Johnson claiming he wanted to level up the UK.<\/p>\n

In some of the big hotel chains\u00c2\u00a0longstanding staff are being fired and rehired onto short-hours contracts. And what the big chains do, the smaller ones follow.<\/p>\n

A TUC poll revealed that nearly one in 10 workers have now been told to re-apply for their jobs on worse terms and conditions or face the losing their jobs.<\/p>\n

Almost\u00c2\u00a0a quarter say their working conditions including pay and working hours have been downgraded\u00c2\u00a0since first lockdown in March\u00e2\u20ac\u017blast year.<\/p>\n

Picture even bleaker for BME and young workers<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And for BME and young workers the picture is bleaker with almost a fifth (18 per cent) of 18-24 year-olds saying their boss has tried to re-hire them on inferior terms during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Working people\u00c2\u00a0(12 per cent) are nearly twice as likely\u00c2\u00a0than\u00c2\u00a0those from higher socio-economic groups (7 per cent) to have been told to re-apply for their jobs under worse terms and conditions.\u00e2\u20ac\u017b\u00c2\u00a0BME workers (15 per cent) have been faced with \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfire and rehire\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 at nearly twice the rate of white workers (8 per cent).<\/p>\n

The polling says that that nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of workers in the UK have experienced a downgrading of their terms during the crisis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0including\u00c2\u00a0through reduced pay or changes to their hours.<\/p>\n

One in three (34 per cent) young workers (18-24 year-olds) say their terms at work have deteriorated since March. And a nearly a third (30 per cent) of low-paid workers\u00c2\u00a0(those earning up to \u00c2\u014115,000)\u00c2\u00a0report the same.\u00e2\u20ac\u017b\u00c2\u00a0Around two-fifths (38 per cent) of workers say they are worried about having a job in the year ahead.<\/p>\n

This is a far cry from Boris Johnson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s promise \u00e2\u20ac\u017bthat it would bring forward a new employment bill to improve people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rights at work. There is still\u00c2\u00a0no sign\u00c2\u00a0of any such legislation.<\/p>\n

It is clear that some employers are taking advantage of the ongoing lockdown\u00c2\u00a0and the forthcoming winding down of the furlough scheme\u00c2\u00a0and are using fire and rehire to slash pay and conditions.<\/p>\n

Ruthless slash and burn tactics<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The tactic is not new \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just look at retailers such as\u00c2\u00a0Asda,\u00c2\u00a0where workers who didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t accept a new contract were told in 2019 they would be dismissed were given seven days to re-apply for their jobs.\u00c2\u00a0Indeed, aggressive bosses appear increasingly willing to attempt the tactic before any negotiations have happened in an attempt to bully workers into agreeing changes.<\/p>\n

What we are now seeing is ruthless slash and burn tactics by employers.<\/p>\n

Paul Scully MP, parliamentary-under-secretary of state for business, said the government \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwill tackle\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 fire and rehire, which he condemned as \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbully-boy tactics\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, leader of the House of Commons, called fire and rehire threats \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwrong\u00e2\u20ac\u0165\u00c2\u00a0and a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbad practice\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, adding companies should know\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bbetter than behave in this way\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 all the time looking the other way as workers face big reductions in their pay and conditions.<\/p>\n

Boris Johnson claimed he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t aware of the practice, in response to a question from Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Kim Johnson MP.<\/p>\n

The practice of fire and rehire is outlawed in Ireland and Spain and in the rest of Europe there are restrictions on employers. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for the UK to outlaw this practice and for the government to practice what they preach about levelling up on job protection.<\/p>\n

Somehow I doubt it they will. They will have to be forced to do it.<\/p>\n

By Tony Burke, Unite assistant general secretary and TUC General Council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lead on employment and trade union rights.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This feature first appeared in Left Foot Forward<\/a> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fire and rehire has been described by Unite general secretary Len McCluskey as being a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098disease that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ripping through our workplaces\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[1409,610],"wps_subtitle":"The government needs to practice what they preach about levelling up on job protection, believes Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28604"}],"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=28604"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28609,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28604\/revisions\/28609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}