It’s time to end ‘fire and rehire’

Tomorrow is the TUC’s Right to Strike Day of Action, protesting against the Government’s latest attempts to limit the ability of workers to protect their rights at work. The UK already has some of the most draconian anti-trade union legislation in the world, the introduction of which largely aligns with a long period of stagnant household incomes and reductions in employment conditions, these latest provisions will only make it harder for people to protect their jobs, incomes, and terms and conditions.

One example of the ways in which disreputable employers are seeking to improve corporate profitability out of the pockets of their workforce is the practice of ‘fire and rehire’, whereby employees are let go en masse only to be immediately for those roles to be refilled on poorer terms and conditions. Labour MPs tried to outlaw this practice in October 2021 only to have Conservative MPs vote their legislation down, a few months later P&O faced national outrage when they used the practice to reduce the terms and conditions of 800 roles, with the electorally-vulnerable MP for Dover finding herself in the firing line for both protesting against P&Os decision and voting to enable the practice to continue.

Of course, we don’t even have to look as far as Dover to see the implications of these rules. In 2020, British Airways sought to use fire and rehire to reduce their costs for 12,000 roles. Their claim that this was necessitated due to the pandemic flew in the face of years of claims that members of staff received excessive remuneration compared to those other airlines. While there may be a lesson for employers in the consequences of treating their workers so poorly in BA’s later recruitment problems causing massive disruption for passengers and a loss of face for the airline, that does nothing to help those who have suffered in Crawley and further afield from their decisions.

Last week the Government announced that they would be acting to prevent similar cases in the future through the introduction of a statutory code of practice, however the reality is that this amounts to little more than best practice advice from the Government. We need an outright ban on fire and rehire to prevent unscrupulous employers from exploiting their position, but more than that we need trade unions to have the freedom necessary to tackle all forms of bad practice and to work to recover the decent terms and conditions UK workers have lost over recent decades. That means taking their shackles off, not doubling them up.