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British Airways plc
Waterside, Hamondsworth
Phone: +44 2087385117p:+44 2087385117 WEST DRAYTON, UB7 0GB  United Kingdom

This is a Subsidiary, click here for the Parent Company


Labour hits at BA and British Gas cuts


British Airways and British Gas were accused by Labour yesterday of "picking the pockets" of their staff as the party promised to outlaw "fire and re-hire" practices.

Angela Rayner, Labour's deputy leader, told the party's "virtual" annual conference that it was not acceptable for companies to make workers redundant and then re-hire them on lower pay and worse terms. "I say to companies like British Airways and British Gas: if you're going to use our country's name then you had better respect our country's values," she said.

"If they won't stop fire and re-hire, it's time the government stepped up and ended it for them."

Labour leader Keir Starmer has named outlawing the practice as one of his first new policies.

Ms Rayner said the companies were "using the threat of the dole queue to pick the pockets of the very staff who have kept those companies going [through the Covid-19 crisis]".

Last week BA chief executive Alex Cruz said the airline expected to drop its plan to "fire and re-hire" thousands of staff following negotiations with unions.

Mr Cruz told MPs that BA still planned to cut about 10,000 jobs, roughly a third of the workforce, but added: "I am pleased that we have reached a point at which it appears that we may have a solution that does not require the need to issue new contracts."

BA said: "From the very start of the Covid-19 crisis we publicly committed to work with the unions to mitigate job losses and we're pleased to have now reached agreements."

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is under pressure to follow suit. It has been accused by unions of forcing 20,000 employees to accept worse employment contracts or lose their jobs.

Centrica said that using fire and rehire was only a "last resort" if it was unable to reach agreement with unions. The company has been working on restructuring for several years due to falling profits, and announced in June that it would lay off 5,000 staff. Those job cuts are in addition to 12,500 lay-offs the company has made since 2015. Meanwhile, today Anneliese Dodds, shadow chancellor, will tell party members that Labour would offer new assistance to companies to keep on staff as the government furlough scheme comes to end on October 31.

She will call for a "job recovery scheme" to pay employers who offer staff part-time work or those which offered high quality training.

Sir Keir told BBC's The Andrew Marr Show that Labour also favoured a targeted extension of the furlough scheme to help sectors worst hit by continued Covid-19 restrictions, naming retail, hospitality, tourism and aviation.

'If you're going to use our country's name then you had better respect our country's values'


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