{"id":30010,"date":"2021-09-17T16:43:16","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T15:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=30010"},"modified":"2021-09-17T16:43:19","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T15:43:19","slug":"we-can-win-on-fire-and-rehire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=30010","title":{"rendered":"‘We can win on fire and rehire’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite members across the country took part in a national day of action to shine the spotlight on \u00e2\u20ac\u0098fire and rehire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, a growing practice where businesses force their workers onto new contracts with substantially reduced wages and terms and conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to fighting fire and rehire industrially in their workplaces \u00e2\u20ac\u201c such as in the ongoing Weetabix dispute where Unite members will soon go on strike \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Unite members are also lobbying for the practice to be banned altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday (September 15) Unite members joined Labour MPs for a banner drop on Westminster Bridge near Houses of Parliament to publicise the union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s efforts to fight fire and rehire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite is supporting Labour MP Barry Gardiner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Private Members Bill to challenge fire and rehire and is calling on MPs of all parties to back it. The Bill is due its second reading on October 22 under the title of Employment and Trade Union Rights (Dismissal and Re-engagement) Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UniteLive spoke to Barry Gardiner, who said he and fellow Labour MPs were working to raise awareness of fire and rehire ahead of the second reading of the Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI think many people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand that you can go into work one day, you can be told that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fired, then be told by your employer \u00e2\u20ac\u0098don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worry, you can sign a new contract \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it will take \u00c2\u014110,000 off your wages, it may change your shift pattern and it may actually take your pension rights \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but at least you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll still have a job,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany of us believe this is wrong and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we want to change it and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what my private members bill will do.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gardiner highlighted that even many Tory MPs are against fire and rehire, and noted that both the business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and chancellor Rishi Sunak have expressed strong disapproval of the practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to hold them to their word, saying that we all agree [that fire and rehire is wrong] and let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s do something about it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he told UniteLive. “Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just talk about it, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just issue guidelines. Because no business that’s doing this \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taking \u00c2\u014110,000 off people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wages \u00e2\u20ac\u201c thinks what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing is morally right. They know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we need legislation in order to prevent it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gardiner hailed the work of trade unions, who he said were united in their opposition to fire and rehire and were, like Unite, successfully supporting members to fight the practice in their workplaces. He added that trade unions were never more necessary than now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re living through a time of incredible uncertainty at the moment,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bInsecure employment is one of the worst things that people are facing right now and of course one of the main ways that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being manifested is through fire and rehire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe irony of this all is that fire and rehire will drive down wages and in doing so it will cost the taxpayer more because those people will be forced into in-work benefits,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo all of us will pay in the end to subsidise these companies who are making sure their workforce earns less so that their shareholders can get more in dividends. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not right.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Unite leads the fight to ban fire and rehire, the union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new general secretary Sharon Graham has pledged to build industrial strength to defeat employers using fire and rehire right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graham commented, \u00e2\u20ac\u015b\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Fire and Rehire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is an abhorrence. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a legal mechanism used by \u00e2\u20ac\u0098bad bosses\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to slash labour costs under cover of the Covid pandemic. It is one of the scandals of our age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe can win on \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Fire and Rehire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and win more often, if we fully commit to focusing on building union strength and organisation at the workplace,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat is what Unite intends to do.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Hajera Blagg<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic by Mark Thomas<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite members across the country took part in a national day of action to shine the spotlight on \u00e2\u20ac\u0098fire and rehire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, a growing practice where businesses force their workers onto new contracts with substantially reduced wages and terms and conditions. In addition to fighting fire and rehire industrially in their workplaces \u00e2\u20ac\u201c such as in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1409],"wps_subtitle":"Unite ramps up campaign to fight fire and rehire with national day of action","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30010"}],"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=30010"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30019,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30010\/revisions\/30019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}