‘Fire and rehire’ battle to intensify amid push to make the employment practice illegal
One of the great puzzles emerging from the last year has been why, in spite of COVID, repeated lockdown, and surging self-isolation, recruitment agencies have seldom been busier.
Employment levels are still rising and unemployment has – so far – not become the scourge many anticipated.
In theory, such a tight labour market should generate increased salaries, and employers’ wage costs should be rising. But, overall, they aren’t.
One explanation is that in the unique circumstances of the pandemic, employers have been forcing new, less favourable, terms on their employees.
Many workers are accepting new terms, knowing that if they don’t they may be dismissed or made redundant and then have to compete for jobs they have done for years – only with less pay and fewer benefits – a practice that has become known as “fire and rehire”.
Employers argue that COVID has accelerated change in the workplace that means that they need new kinds of flexibility from the workforce – over work breaks, or severance packages, for example – or else they will go out of business.
In straitened times, the alternatives, as they see it, are lower wages or fewer jobs.
Research by the TUC suggests that nearly one in 10 workers have been asked to reapply for their jobs since the start of lockdown in March 2020, with young people and minorities more likely than most to face the pressure.
BA was accused of using the controversial tactic as it cut jobs during the pandemic
Major disputes have blown up in big employers such as British Airways and British Gas.
Amina Patel, a worker in adult social care in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, told me that for many of her colleagues, currently voting on a strike proposal over the issue, their anger isn’t just about money.
“It’s disrespectful. It makes you angry,” she said.
“The biggest betrayal was being fired and rehired at the height of the pandemic after everything we’d given, and still continue giving.”
Tower Hamlets Council said they “consulted extensively” with staff over changes to terms and conditions and that “no staff are on worse conditions, or pay, or have been dismissed as a result of the changes”.
Labour backbencher and former leadership contender Barry Gardiner has now tabled draft legislation that would make the practice of “fire and rehire” unlawful.
Barry Gardiner says a change in the law is needed to protect workers
He wants to “stop managers intimidating the workforce… and going for the nuclear option right from the beginning. What I want to see is proper negotiation”.
He claims cross-party support, and points to Boris Johnson’s condemnation of employers who use dismissal as a negotiating tactic.
The government has asked ACAS to come up with new guidance for employers, though Mr Gardiner insists that change will only come through legislation.
Either way, research by ACAS makes clear that as furlough and other COVID support measures are withdrawn, the fight over “fire and rehire” is likely to become both more intense and more widespread.
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He will also be talking to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick and Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth.
The Post Office is considering selling assets or taking on new borrowings to help deliver an ambition to boost sub-postmasters’ pay by £120m this year, its chairman has said.
Sky News has learnt that Nigel Railton, who was confirmed as the state-owned company’s long-term chair last week, told thousands of branch managers that it had ring-fenced £86m so far to increase their remuneration.
In a speech delivered in Chesterfield, Mr Railton is understood to have told sub-postmasters that the Post Office’s board was redoubling its efforts to meet the target of up to £120m for pay rises.
Money latest: Nearly half of landlords to raise rent ahead of reforms
The company was exploring options including additional cost-savings, further asset sales, sale-and-leaseback opportunities, and borrowing options, he told them.
One source said Mr Railton had said on Wednesday morning that without actions already taken by Post Office management, sub-postmasters would be left with pay increases this year of just 2%, rather than the 20% it had now secured.
The progress towards its £120m target comes just three months after the Post Office chairman was forced to deliver a bleaker prognosis to thousands of sub-postmasters keen to have their faith restored in the scandal-hit company.
In March, Mr Railton said he had yet to gain certainty from Whitehall about a £120m increase for this year.
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Call to sue govt over delays
“Our funding discussions are positive and ongoing, but I want to be honest that we are operating in a challenging financial environment,” he told them at the time.
The Post Office is reliant on funding from the government, and last November outlined plans for an ambitious transformation of its business, which includes a substantial number of job cuts.
It remains hopeful of making up the £34m shortfall to reach its £120m target, according to insiders, as it seeks to rebuild its public and internal reputation in the aftermath of the Horizon IT scandal.
A Post Office spokesman confirmed Mr Railton’s remarks on Wednesday.
Elon Musk has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “outrageous” and a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill, which includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks, was passed by the House Republicans in May, and has been described by the president as a “big, beautiful bill”.
The tech billionaire hit out at the tax cuts on his platform X, writing: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Elon Musk left his ‘special government employee’ role last week. Pic: AP.
In American politics, “pork” is a political metaphor used when government spending is allocated to local projects, usually to benefit politicians’ constituencies.
Musk left the administration abruptly last week after working to cut costs with his team, the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency – known as DOGE – with the ambition of sacking federal workers and cutting red tape.
The White House brushed Musk’s comments aside, claiming they did not surprise the president.
In a press conference on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
She added: “This is one, big, beautiful bill.
“And he’s sticking to it.”
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to cut back $9.4bn in already approved spending, taking money away from DOGE.
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What did Musk achieve at DOGE?
The billionaire tweeted: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested voting out politicians who advanced the president’s tax bill.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote in another X post.
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How Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
Last Thursday, Musk revealed on X that his scheduled time as a “special government employee” was coming to an end.
Before the news broke, Musk’s father told Sky News his son was “not a very good politician”.
But speaking to Gillian Joseph on The World, Errol Musk insisted there was “no rift between Elon and Donald Trump”.
Musk’s time at DOGE was controversial, with drastic cuts to America’s humanitarian efforts sparking particular criticism.
Questions have also been raised about whether the department has actually saved taxpayers as much money as suggested.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
Elon Musk brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office during a press conference earlier this year. Pic: Reuters.
The 53-year-old, who famously brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office, also expressed frustration about resistance to his ideas and clashed with other senior members of the Trump administration.
He recently told The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC to say the least.”
By law, status as a “special government employee” means he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which would have ended around 30 May.
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