Mayor backs union in bus firm ‘fire and rehire’ row
TRADE unions have been backed by a council and mayor Andy Burnham in their fight against alleged ‘fire and rehire’ tactics being pursued against workers.
Manchester’s Labour councillors passed a motion calling on the town hall to cut ties with companies accused by unions of asking employees to reapply for their jobs on ‘vastly inferior’ contracts.
Hundreds of Go North West bus drivers in Manchester have been on strike since February amid an ongoing dispute between management and the UK’s largest union, Unite.
Unite says the company wants to fire and rehire its drivers and force them to work longer for no additional pay, while also cutting sick pay for drivers with more than five years’ service.
Go North West have disputed the ‘misleading’ claims, with bosses saying that they had made a ‘strong’ offer to employees.
The firm has also said that the changes would secure 600 jobs at the Queens Road depot in Cheetham Hill, where ‘outdated’ working practices have led to losses of £1.8m a year.
Peace talks between the firm and Unite collapsed without agreement on April 1, prompting the 400 drivers who are members of Unite to resume strike action for the fifth week in a row.
Andy Burnham, who is running for re-election as Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, visited the picket line on Wednesday.
“I believe the tactics of fire and rehire of a workforce have no place whatsoever in this city-region,” he said.
“I do not believe the way this has been handled by Go North West is right, and I do not believe that Go North West drivers have been treated fairly.”
According to Unite, Go North West’s proposals will lead to drivers having to undertake 130 hours of unpaid work a year, leaving them £2,500 a year worse off. Go North West bosses say their initial offer to turn around the company included no job cuts, guaranteed pay increases over two years, and a £5,000 lump sum payment to each of its 480 drivers. But Unite ‘said no’ to this proposal according to Nigel Featham, managing director of the bus company.
“Unite continues to make wild claims over supposed pay cuts, job losses and what they misleadingly call ‘fire and rehire’ that bear no resemblance whatsoever to the facts,” said Mr Featham.
He added: “This dispute and this strike is entirely of Unite’s making. All we want is for the local union representatives to work constructively and collaboratively with us to secure 600 people’s jobs and livelihoods.”