Conservatives so blinded by ideology they are presiding over entirely avoidable mass unemployment
Chancellor Rishi Sunak's screeching U-turn on the furlough scheme has come too late to save thousands of aviation jobs.
The delays in extending furlough will now ruin Christmas and the lives of thousands of aviation workers.
Nadine Houghton, GMB National Officer
Mass redundancies across the sector - including more than 3,000 Swissport jobs which were lost on October 31 – could have been avoided if the government had listened to unions and employers and kept a targeted flexible furlough scheme in place.
Nadine Houghton, GMB National Officer, said:
“This Conservative Government is so blinded by ideology they are presiding over entirely avoidable mass unemployment.
“The delays in extending furlough, caused by a deep-rooted opposition to the notion that the state must step in and provide support working people in their hour of need, will now ruin Christmas and the lives of thousands of aviation workers.
“For many – such as more than 3,000 Swissport workers who lost their jobs over the weekend – this announcement may have come too late.
“We call on all employers to delay redundancy notices, furlough the staff, save their Christmases and hopefully, as things improve, their jobs too."
