THE industrial action which has seen members of the Unite union at Thurrock Council take strike action – which is now to be extended by another two weeks – has been highlighted by the union which is set to launch a nationwide display of action against what it describes as 'bully boy' management, forcing through changes to the pay and conditions of its members.

While the dispute in Thurrock does not involve the threat of 'fire and rehire' from Thurrock Council, which is at the heart of its call to action the attitude of the council to its workforce is highlighted as symptomatic of the way workers are being badly treated.

Bids this week to bring the two sides together in Thurrock appeared to have little success and the council has now hired commercial bin wagons to mount further collections at strategic points across Thurrock, among other measures to combat the effect of the strike.

In response Unite has confirm that the existing phase of industrial action, which sees its members stop work at 9am each day, will be extended. The action was due to end on Friday, 7 May, but it will now continue for at least another two weeks, starting on Monday, 10 May.

Tomorrow (Monday, 26 April) Unite (which has announced it has a £40 million strike fund) will launch a national campaign to end 'bully boy' fire and rehire with a day of coordinated strikes and actions across the country.

Workers, trade unionists and supporters around the country will come out on strike, arrange solidarity actions and leaflet workplaces, as pressure mounts of the government to take action against a practice labelled "bully-boy" by a government minister.

Fire and rehire, which forces workers to accept worse pay and conditions in order to keep their job, has been described as a 'disease that's ripping through our workplaces' by Unite's leader Len McCluskey. The TUC found that already one in 10 workers had been threatened with fire and rehire during the pandemic with that number set to grow dramatically as furlough ends unless the law is changed.

Unite is currently representing its members in a number of disputes with employers over their fire and rehire attacks on workers, including at Goodlord, Go North West, Brush Electronics, SAICA, Tesco and Jacobs Dowe Egburts. The union successfully supported workers to defeat fire and rehire at SPS Technologies.

Opposition to fire and rehire has surfaced within the government too under pressure from trade unions and opposition MPs. Last month in the House of Commons, Paul Scully MP, parliamentary-under-secretary of state for business, said the government "will tackle" fire and rehire, which he condemned as "bully-boy tactics".

Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, leader of the House of Commons, called fire and rehire threats "wrong" and a "bad practice", adding companies should know "better than behave in this way". But at last week's prime minister's questions, Boris Johnson claimed to be unaware of the practice in response to a question from Kim Johnson MP.

Howard Beckett, Unite's assistant general secretary for politics and legal, said: "Millions of people all over the country are facing the sack if they don't accept less pay and worse conditions. That's thousands of pounds stolen out of the pockets of families and millions sucked out of communities.

"This wave of despicable fire and rehire tactics from bad bosses will only grow as furlough comes to an end. After months of pandemic hardship, this is no way to treat people.

"It has been workers who have seen our nations through this Covid crisis. Many have lost friends or family members to this terrible virus. And now they face a pandemic of greed. Bad employers are using the opportunity of crisis to fire and rehire workers on dramatically reduced terms and conditions. It can't be allowed to happen. Workers cannot be made to pay for a crisis they have not caused.

"The government knows this is wrong and can end fire and rehire with one stroke of a legislative pen.

"But if the government won't do the right thing, then Unite will. We have members in every sector and in every nation taking industrial action, we have a strike fund of over £40,000,000 and daily strike pay of £70. Fire and rehire will be stopped."