Fire and rehire policy is immoral
The House of Commons returns from the summer recess next week.
The focus on my return, as transport spokesperson and constituency MP for Glasgow Airport, will remain on support for the transport/travel sectors to save jobs, and to protect workers in all sectors from the immoral fire and rehire approach taken by many companies in the last few weeks and months.
Firing and rehiring is threatening to make a workforce redundant and rehire them on reduced terms and conditions if they don’t agree to specific set of proposals.
I have tabled a Bill which would make this Dickensian approach unlawful.
By far the worst culprit is British Airways, who not only threatened utterly savage cuts to terms and conditions, but have now followed through on those threats.
The Scarlet Pimpernel himself, British Airways CEO Alex Cruz, is finally coming out of hiding and will be giving evidence to the Transport Select Committee in three weeks.
I look forward to it.
Another company which has employed fire and rehire tactics is Centrica – better known as British/Scottish Gas.
Whilst its proposed cuts to terms and conditions are not as shocking as those facing BA staff, it is still an immoral and regressive approach to industrial relations.
This was one of many points I was able to make to the chief executive of Centrica in a one-to-one meeting I secured last week.
I’ll be keeping an eye on Centrica’s ongoing negotiations with unions very closely.
Another issue regular readers will be aware that I have been pursuing is the 73 Erskine Bridge Hotel employees who should have been in receipt of furlough pay since March, but who, for a variety of reasons, haven’t received a penny.
Last week I met with a representative of the owners MGM Muthu, which was followed by a meeting with a number of hotel staff.
There’s no denying that there was certainly an element of bad luck involved as no one could have foreseen the pandemic, nor the furlough scheme’s retrospective and entirely inflexible dates, but this has been a mess from start to finish.
Whilst there may have been issues with HMRC’s slow and inefficient administration delaying some of the paperwork that would later become critical, MGM Muthu and their payroll contractors clearly have questions to answer also.
Whether it’s put down to bad luck, or maladministration at MGM Muthu and their contractors, or simply stubborn inflexibility at the HMRC, the only folk in this saga that can be totally absolved of any blame are the very people who have suffered the consequences – the workers themselves.
I will continue to pursue all angles on this, but if all else fails, the company has a duty of care to ensure that the employees are appropriately compensated.
My office received a few emails and calls on the temporary issue with the Coronavirus testing system over the weekend with some results being delayed, and appointments suggested in England, or even Northern Ireland.
This will in large part be due to the demand placed on the system by a cold bug going around, particularly in schools, and the resultant tests required.
I have written to the UK Government to raise concerns regarding the protocol and governance when surges occur for demand on this service and for at home testing.
Whilst these problems were incredibly frustrating and inconvenient for many, I’m glad the system faced a stress test at this point before colds and infections become more common as we move into autumn and winter.
At the point of writing the issues are being worked through and resolved, indeed my wife arranged a test through the online booking system on the Monday night and was able to select a slot at 9am on the Tuesday at Glasgow Airport.
The test process itself was incredibly smooth, efficient and professional and my thanks to all involved.
Please continue to stay safe and remember F.A.C.T.S.