Firms must support staff during crisis
With the 75th anniversary of VE day being marked tomorrow, it’s important we remember the horror and death that millions had to endure while defeating homicidal fascists who murdered many millions more.
The physical ceremonies may not be going ahead as planned, but we will still remember and offer our respect to all who helped topple those who carried out genocide and barbarity on a scale unseen in human history. While time may take those events further from our own experiences and further back in time, we cannot allow the monstrosity of what happened to ever be forgotten.
We should all remember the people who sacrificed their lives and their peace in order that the greater evil of Hitlerism and his brand of murderous bigotry ended in 1945. That generation won the war and went on to make sure they won peace.
The welfare state we applaud every Thursday night was founded in the immediate aftermath of World War II, with the National Health Service set up just three years after VE Day.
No longer would workers be subject to poverty if they fell ill or lost their jobs.
Many of the rights – and responsibilities – we rely on today were the product of those later struggles by returning servicemen and servicewomen who were determined to build a better future.
This week we also remember and celebrate those who returned home to loved ones following the horrors of war, and did so much to change our post-war society for the better.
I’m not convinced that this “common weal” approach was in IAG’s thoughts when they announced thousands of job losses at British Airways, whilst trying to force those who survive the cull onto poorer paid, less secure contracts.
BA’s parent company has the Qatari government as its biggest shareholder, so they aren’t exactly short of a bob or two, yet senior management think it appropriate to put thousands of livelihoods on the line instead of working with employees and unions to help the company and the industry get through this unprecedented time.
As the MP for Glasgow Airport, I’ve worked tirelessly to try and protect the jobs and investment that supports our area.
But BA’s actions make it harder to put the industry’s case to UK ministers and secure some support for our aviation sector. Loyal staff who have stuck with BA through thick and thin are being treated despicably by a management team who don’t seem to have an iota of appreciation for workers who delivered over £1billion in profit last year.
Times are tough for everyone. But that doesn’t give BA, or any other company, the right to throw people on the scrapheap in the midst of a social and medical crisis.
There may well come a time when the likes of BA are back, cap in hand, looking for help from a taxpayer they’ve treated with contempt. They shouldn’t be surprised if those with the cash to help decide to use it supporting efforts to help people, not attack them.
As has become tradition in these columns, can I again thank everyone for the sacrifices that we are all making during this crisis? Nothing we are being asked to do is easy, but I know that the vast majority of us know it’s for all our sakes that public health is protected, and lives are saved. And lives, as any veteran of WW2 would tell you, are a precious, priceless thing.