Fire & rehire hits 1 in 10 staff

ONE in 10 workers have been threatened with “fire and rehire” plans in the pandemic, a TUC survey shows.

Unions say the practice of sacking staff and rehiring them on poorer terms is spreading like a disease.

Firms at the centre of rows include BA, British Gas, coffee giant Jacobs Douwe Egberts, and BCM Fareva beauty product suppliers.

Next week Tesco will contest union Usdaw’s call to withdraw contract

FEARS changes at centres in Daventry, Northants, and Lichfield, Staffs. The union says they mean 30% wage cuts.

Manchester passenger transport firm GNW faces industrial action after rejecting claims its bus drivers have been subject to fire and rehire after changes in shift patterns.

The TUC survey also found nearly a quarter of staff say their pay or hours have been downgraded since the first lockdown last March.

MPs are calling for the tactic to be banned and although Boris Johnson has

called it “unacceptable”

there are no plans for new laws to outlaw it.

Unite is campaigning against what it calls a “disease ripping through our workforces”.

The union’s Howard Beckett said: “Millions of people all over the country are facing the sack if they don’t accept less pay and worse conditions.

“This wave of despicable fire-andrehire tactics will only grow as furlough comes to an end.”

A Department for Business spokesman said: “Using fire and rehire as a negotiating tactic is completely unacceptable.”