‘Unethical and immoral’ fire and rehire has spread like a virus during the Covid-19 pandemic, disproportionately affecting young, working-class, and BME workers.
Apprentices at British Gas gained two recruits on Monday, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak appeared in branded jackets at their training academy in Leicestershire.
In Sunderland, Ciara Arrowsmith, a former service and repair engineer with British Gas who left her job as a battle over ‘fire and rehired’ engulfed the company, was appalled.
“I saw Boris on the TV when he visited British Gas and realized he isn’t going to do anything.
“He is just spineless. They need to make fire and rehire illegal. It is unethical and immoral.”
Fire and Rehire is a growing trend of laying people off and then giving them their jobs back in a reduced or worse job. It’s currently legal, but Labour and trade unions are campaigning to outlaw it.
Ciara, 37, left British Gas in February after refusing to sign a new contract with what she says were tougher terms and longer hours. After 13 years at the company, Ciara says she was so loyal to British Gas she had “blue blood in me”.
“I felt gutted when I left. I put everything into the job.” When she was shown the new terms, she says, “I felt worthless, and my anxiety was really bad. I had customers ring me and say, if you’re leaving, we’re leaving.”
Fire and rehire have spread like a virus during the Covid-19 pandemic. TUC polled workers earlier this year, finding that nearly 10 percent had been told to apply for jobs again on less favorable terms since March 2020’s first lockdown.
It was found that it adversely affected BME, young workers, and working-class people.
A ballot on industrial action at Clarks shoes over the fire and rehire closed on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Weetabix staff at factories in Kettering and Corby voted for strike action over plans to rehire them on deals they say would leave them £5,000 poorer a year.
Unite settled a dispute earlier this year with British Airways over the fire and rehired plans affecting its cargo division’s workforce.
TUC Congress was dominated by fire and rehire throughout the week. At the same moment, Sunak and Johnson were playing at being boiler engineers, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady was making her opening speech to Congress in London.
“It can’t be right that a boss can threaten to sack loyal workers, often after years of service, unless they accept worse pay and conditions,” she told the annual gathering of Britain’s trade unionists. “It’s high time we outlawed that evil practice of fire and rehired.”
Unite the Union’s general secretary Sharon Graham called the practice “an abhorrence” and “one of the scandals of our age.”
Dean Ismay (29) from Cheltenham in Glos shared a touching testimony with Congress as a disabled worker. He also claimed that he was rehired and had to be rehired at Asda.
“Fire and rehire is a dirty, bullying tactic. It wrecks lives and trashes the economy,” He told the delegates. “I have personally been subjected to this horrible tactic at Asda.”
Dean worked at the supermarket chain for five years until 2020, when he says they brought in new contracts that changed people’s rights at work.
“When they issued the dismissal notices to us, I felt so sick with worry. As a disabled worker, I felt utterly betrayed by the business. I was so stressed, and I was worried about my health. Fire and rehire must be consigned to the dustbin of history where it belongs.”
Asda said: “In 2019, we introduced a simpler and fairer contract for hourly-paid colleagues in our stores to ensure they all received the same terms and conditions.
“As part of this change, we invested £80million to increase the take-home pay of more than 100,000 colleagues, whilst also maintaining their existing benefits.”
A British Gas spokesman said: “We reached an agreement with our unions in July that is critical in ensuring our business is sustainable, competitive, and set up for growth. We had to take measures in order to preserve almost 20,000 jobs. There was enough work for everyone by the end.
“To ensure we have a workforce that can help to make the transition to low carbon both hassle-free and affordable for our customers, we’re creating 3,500 apprenticeship roles over the next decade – these will be highly skilled and well-paid British jobs.”
Ciara was reassured by her worst fears when she met the British Gas Prime Minister with Centrica’s boss.
“Boris’s visit to the British Gas academy was no surprise, really,” She says. “To see him standing side by side with Chris O’Shea made it crystal clear that there was never any intention to stop the fire and rehire.
Unions and MPs intend to challenge that arrogance. On Wednesday, Unite led a Day of Action urging MPs to sign Barry Gardiner MP’s Private Members’ Bill to challenge fire and rehire.
The Bill is due it’s second reading on October 22.
“MPs from every political party and every corner of the country are saying that fire and rehire wrong,” says Gardiner. “Bullying and intimidation is not the way forward if we want decent employment and a productive economy. Next month my colleagues in Parliament have a chance to stand up and stop the bullying.”