Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Heathrow catering firm to make 1,068 workers redundant
A HEATHROW Airport catering company, whose biggest customer is British Airways, has announced it will make more than 1,000 workers redundant.
Austrian-owned DO & CO has said that it will be making 1,068 staff redundant, bringing a total of 1,377 job losses, including voluntary redundancies, since the coronavirus pandemic started in March.
Just 507 staff will be left after the latest jobs cull.
DO & CO refused to use the furlough scheme, which would have seen staff be paid 80% of their wages until at least March.
Unite, Britain and Ireland’s largest union, said DO & CO was the only Heathrow catering company not to engage constructively with the union over furlough.
The union called for the company to enter into constructive talks to chart a way forward, utilise the current furlough arrangements and not throw more than 1,000 low-paid workers onto the dole queue in the run-up to Christmas.
Unite regional officer Shereen Higginson said: “DO & CO is the only catering company at Heathrow that has refused point blank to enter into constructive talks with the union over furlough arrangements. It is also delaying discussions on the new jobs support scheme (JSS).
“It is refusing to discuss the furlough extension arrangements into
December as outlined by the government. We are naming and shaming DO &CO as an example of corporate callousness in the middle of a global pandemic – and pointing out the indirect reputational damage to British Airways being associated with this catering company.
“When passengers board their planes, many of them flown by British Airways, they expect meals and drinks, which are provided by an invisible army of aviation caterers who are some of the lowest paid workers in the country.
“Throwing more than 1,000 catering workers onto the dole queue as we enter a second lockdown, when new jobs will be almost non-existent, shows a lack of humanity and common decency.”
DO & CO operates dozens of kitchens in 12 countries, and specialises in airline catering, international event catering and food for restaurants, lounges and hotels.
The company reported that its global revenues fell by 87% between April and June because of the pandemic, reports The Guardian.
Heathrow boss John HollandKaye warned in June that as many as 25,000 jobs could be lost due to the pandemic.
He said: “76,000 people employed at Heathrow. are
“That represents one in four households in the local community, so if we start cutting jobs on mass that has a devastating impact on local communities, including the Prime Minister’s own constituency (Uxbridge and South Ruislip), which is only a few miles from the airport.
“What we’ve heard already from the airlines is that they are cutting around a third of all employees, so that would be 25,000 people out of work. That would be a devastating blow to west London and the Thames Valley.”