Workplace Report November 2020

Bargaining news

Heathrow fire and rehire fightback continues

Members of general union Unite employed directly by Heathrow Airport Ltd (HAL) including security officers, engineers, airside operatives and firefighters are planning to take strike action this Autumn.

The decision to ballot for industrial action is a consequence of HAL’s decision to issue section 188 notices which aim to “fire and rehire” around 4,500 staff on significantly inferior pay and conditions. The airport workers face losing up to £8,000 a year, around 25% of their pay. Just last year, the same workers called off planned strike action after receiving a pay increase.

Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: “The opportunism of HAL’s highly-paid managers is truly shocking. They are using the cover of Covid to impose brutal cuts on workers trying to get by in one of the most expensive cities on the planet.

“They are picking the pockets of loyal workers whose earnings are the lifeblood of the local economy yet leaving their super-salaries unscathed and shareholders’ bounties untouched.

“It is an immoral act born from boardroom greed and it will be condemned as such by all right-thinking people.”

https://unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2020/october/last-call-to-super-salaried-heathrow-bosses-to-avoid-autumn-strikes-over-poverty-plunging-fire-and-rehire/