MP Barry Gardiner to bring Stop Fire & Rehire film to Calderdale
Thursday, 1 September 2022
There will be an exclusive Calderdale screening of the new film about the disgraceful practice of "fire and rehire" when former government minister Barry Gardiner visits the borough on Wednesday 14 September, starting at 7pm.
Barry, the former Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade and for Energy and Climate Change, will be showing the film at Mytholmroyd Community Centre.
Fire and rehire, where employers force staff to accept lower wages and detrimental changes in their working conditions or be sacked, has been used increasingly by household name employers such as Sainsburys, British Gas, Argos and Tesco, intent on protecting their profits.
Calderdale Trades Council has invited Barry to a public film night and Q&A session about the campaign to outlaw its use. He introduced a Private Members' Bill in Parliament last year to make the practice illegal, but this was blocked by Conservative MPs.
Lord Tony Woodley, the former Unite union general secretary, has reintroduced the Bill in the House of Lords and he and Barry Gardiner are taking their campaign on the road to meetings up and down the country.
The brutal sacking of 800 P&O workers put fire and rehire back in the spotlight, and the practice has now spread to every sector of the economy.
Barry Gardiner MP said, "My film exposes the shameful practice of fire and rehire. We're living in a cost of living crisis, with rocketing inflation, yet employers are threatening to sack their workforce unless huge cuts to pay and conditions are accepted. How are people expected to pay their bills and put food on the table?
"The irony is that by driving down wages it ultimately costs the taxpayer more because it forces working people onto in-work benefits. All of us will pay to subsidise companies using this scandalous tactic to slash their workforce's pay and conditions to protect their shareholder dividends. It's just not right.
"We've had many government ministers condemning the practice. They could stand up now for working people who kept our country going through the pandemic. I call on them to get behind our Bill and do just that."