Employment and Trade Union Rights (Dismissal and Re-engagement) Bill

Debate between Ruth Jones and Barry Gardiner

2nd reading
Friday 22nd October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech, and an important one. Did not the researchers find that 70% of the companies deploying fire-and-rehire tactics were profit-making companies? They have not been driven to this as a last resort because of the pandemic; they are making profits, and healthy profits at that. Does my hon. Friend agree?

[Barry Gardiner]

Not only do I agree with my hon. Friend, but I agree with the statistics. The statistics are very clear: 70% of the companies that have engaged in these tactics over the last month were actually making profits. That is why I say that this is not just an ethical problem of bullying and unfair tactics, but an economic problem that even the most hard-nosed Treasury official should recognise. As the Leader of the House has said,

“All companies operate best when their employees are working there with enthusiasm, and these types of tactics are very bad for morale in businesses”.—[Official Report, 25 March 2021; Vol. 691, c. 1103.]

And, as he also famously said, “Fire and rehire is no way to do capitalism.”