Heathrow’s devastating knock-on effect
THOUSANDS OF JOBS CONNECTED TO AIRPORT AT RISK AS AVIATION INDUSTRY STRUGGLES IN WAKE OF CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
BUSINESSES surrounding Heathrow Airport are “suffering heavily” due to the coronavirus pandemic and some could collapse months after government grants come to an end, a Hounslow councillor fears.
Feltham North councillor Kuldeep Tak said many of his constituents living in the area are being hit by the aviation sector collapse, as Heathrow Airport announced protecting frontline jobs was “no longer sustainable”.
The airport’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye confirmed a voluntary redundancy scheme on June 11, after the business reported a continued all-time low of a 97% drop in traffic in May.
He said: “Throughout this crisis, we have tried to protect frontline jobs, but this is no longer sustainable and we have now agreed a voluntary severance scheme with our union partners. While we cannot rule out further job reductions, we will continue to explore options to minimise the number of job losses.”
In the borough where around 42,000 jobs are connected to Heathrow Airport, it is believed one in three households could be impacted by cuts at the west London hub.
Councillor Tak said: “There are many local businesses, many, many in the area completely dependent on Heathrow and the business that comes through Heathrow Airport.
“They are dependent on government grants and many of the businesses are just grounded.
“I don’t think half of the businesses will be able to continue for more than two months [after lockdown]. The government grant will help to some extent, but businesses have invested heavily in their real estates and have fixed costs to meet, so even though they have cut down on variable costs they still have to meet these fixed costs [when grants end].
“There have been many people raising their voices. They are suffering heavily due to the lockdown and due to the reduced Heathrow traffic.”
Unite’s regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said fallout for the aviation industry in the area could see “entire families” being made redundant as a big culture surrounds Heathrow of households working under the same employer.
The redundancy scheme, announced by Heathrow bosses however on Thursday June 11, was negotiated by the unions and is a “good financial package” for staff who choose to take it, Mr King added.
“We made it very clear to the company we are not going to accept any forced redundancies, but accepted people may be at a point they may want to go and look for other work or look at another industry.
“I think Heathrow might want to keep everybody, but I’m not convinced they can.”
Brentford and Isleworth MP
Ruth Cadbury said it could be many months, if not years, before Heathrow is operating and employing as many people as before lockdown.
She said: “The government needs to support west London, the council, the employers and the training providers to help re-skill people, because not everybody will be able to get their job back at Heathrow, so re-skilling people to be able to bounce back more quickly is essential.”
The Labour MP also described the introduction of a 14-day quarantine to travellers entering the country as a “sledgehammer” for the sector, while Mr King warned it was the “nail in the coffin” for the industry.
The union boss said all partners are lobbying the government to create ‘air bridges’, where there are agreed routes with countries with low infection rates, which could save thousands of jobs.
Mr Holland-Kaye said the government’s quarantine policy had continued the “grim picture” for the airport, which led to the decision to cut further jobs, on top of a third of management roles already slashed.
Explaining the government’s plan, Home Secretary Priti Patel said as the UK’s transmission rate declines scientific advice states cases from abroad could pose a “significant threat” to this effort.
“The government is acting now by taking a proportionate and time-limited approach to protect the health of the British people,” she said.
Outrage has also continued over British Airways’ bid to make 12,000 redundancies and ‘fire and rehire’ its workforce in a plan that some suggest is designed to bring back employees on lower pay and conditions.
Councillor Tak added: “Now the aviation industry is grounded with BA planning to cut thousands of staff.
“Many of the staff live in my constituency. They are feeling scared now and what will happen when the furlough scheme ends?
“They are trying to raise their voice, but I don’t think BA is listening.”
Ms Cadbury said she has received hundreds of emails from constituents who could be facing the moves and is supporting a bill, brought to Parliament by Scottish MP Gavin Newlands, aiming to stop the ‘fire and rehire’ practice from being legal.