Category Archives: Job losses

Twitter has ‘50% chance’ of major crash during World Cup, says insider

Posted on by

Social media giant ill-equipped to deal with traffic spikes after cuts imposed by Elon Musk, according to former employee

Twitter stands a 50% chance of a major outage that could take the site offline during the World Cup, according to a recently departed employee with knowledge of how the company responds to large-scale events.

The former employee, who was granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of what was discussed, has knowledge of the workings of Twitter Command Centre, the platform’s team of troubleshooters who monitor the site for issues such as traffic spikes and data centre outages.

Continue reading...

Cazoo to abandon its business operations in Europe and cut 750 jobs

Posted on by

UK online car retailer will make all of its employees in France, Germany, Italy and Spain redundant

Online car retailer Cazoo has announced it will abandon its business in Europe and cut 750 jobs in the latest sign of retreat by a business that had hoped to transform its sector.

The company will make redundant all of its employees in France, Germany, Italy and Spain as it closes the operations, leaving it operating in only the UK as it tries to preserve cash.

Continue reading...

Co-op Group to cut 400 jobs at Manchester head office

Posted on by

The group blamed rising inflation for job losses as it vows to protect shoppers from higher prices

The Co-op Group is cutting 400 jobs at its head office in Manchester as the retailer said it faced tough trading conditions amid rising inflation.

The job cuts come after the Co-op, which employs more than 63,000 people including 4,000 at its head offices, warned in April of continuing problems with food supplies and inflation after its annual profits more than halved amid supply chain disruption and higher staff wages.

Continue reading...

Klarna criticised for chaotic handling of job cuts

Posted on by

UK employees said they were ‘blindsided’ by the Swedish firm’s announcement

Sacked staff have criticised the buy now pay later firm Klarna for its chaotic handling of job cuts, including in the UK, and questioned the chief executive’s decision to publicise a list of fired staff who are now scrambling for work.

UK employees affected by the cuts told the Guardian they felt “blindsided” by the Swedish firm’s announcement last week, when its co-founder and boss Sebastian Siemiatkowski revealed it would be cutting more than 700 of its 7,000-plus global staff, including some hired just weeks earlier.

Continue reading...

Liberty Steel to cut 200 jobs but create up to 160 more in plant move

Posted on by

Jobs set to go at Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire and at West Bromwich, but new posts to be created at Rotherham

Liberty Steel has announced plans to cut 200 jobs in the UK at plants in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands, as industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s metals group looks to shift production to Rotherham.

The company said on Friday that it would cut 160 jobs at a plant in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire, and 45 in West Bromwich in the West Midlands as it focused production on the plant in Rotherham, also in South Yorkshire.

Continue reading...

P&O Ferries scandal must be turning point for workers’ rights, says TUC

Posted on by

Union leaders call for employment bill and accuse ministers of failing to challenge sacking of 800 staff

Ministers have serious questions to answer on the growing scandal at P&O Ferries and must make it a catalyst to improve workers’ rights, the Trades Union Congress said on Sunday.

The TUC accused the government of sitting on its hands and failing to protect workers after P&O sacked 800 staff on Thursday with a plan to replace them with cheaper agency workers. It has emerged that ministers were informed in advance about the mass redundancies.

Continue reading...

Government knew of P&O Ferries sackings the day before, No 10 admits

Posted on by

Labour and unions demand immediate action including suspending licences of parent company DP World

Unions and the Labour party have demanded immediate action over the sacking of 800 British crew by P&O Ferries, including suspending the licences of its parent company, DP World, as it emerged the government was made aware of the move the previous night.

Amid public calls for a boycott of P&O and protests at ports, unions demanded the government urge the firm to reverse its decision, and curb DP World’s involvement in planned freeports.

Continue reading...

‘The stakes couldn’t be higher’: GE urged to invest in green US jobs

Posted on by

Labor and environmental groups are demanding that General Electric stop offshoring jobs and invest in renewable energy

Kevin Smith, of Salem, Virginia, worked at General Electric for about 20 years before the town’s plant was shut down at the end of 2019, and the work moved to a factory in India.

“It was a total shock because of how things had been going, with all the overtime we were working, everything just seemed great, like there was no way this was happening. All I wanted to do was wake up, that I had a nightmare, but that wasn’t the case,” said Smith, 50, who was one of about 265 GE workers who were laid off due to the closure.

Continue reading...

Bleak future for Crawley a year after first Covid lockdown

Posted on by

The town in the shadow of Gatwick airport hopes the worst of the pandemic is over but fears for its jobs

The differences with the early stage of the Covid-19 pandemic are stark in Crawley. Plenty of people are milling around Queens Square in the town centre, enjoying the early spring sun, even though most of the shops remain closed; some permanently.

In the West Sussex town close to Gatwick airport, hopes are rising that the worst days of the pandemic have finally passed. But with global air travel still grounded, workers in Crawley fear there will be long-term damage for the local jobs market.

Continue reading...

A year of Covid crisis: a glimmer of economic hope at the end of the tunnel

Posted on by

Twelve months after the pandemic struck the Guardian’s economic tracker reveals real risk of lasting damage

When Boris Johnson announced the first stay-at-home order, effectively shutting down whole sections of the economy, it was hoped the tide could be turned within 12 weeks. As many months later, lockdown measures are being relaxed for a third time and Britain still faces a lengthy road to recovery from the worst recession for 300 years.

As restrictions ease, the chief economist at the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, warned that despite the reopening of the economy, the risk of a “jobs equivalent of long Covid” remains for workers across the country.

Continue reading...

Covid leaves 6m UK small businesses and 16m jobs in ‘precarious position’

Posted on by

Survey finds nearly two-thirds of entrepreneurs believe their business may not survive pandemic

An estimated 6m small businesses in the UK supporting 16.6m jobs are in a financially precarious position as a result of the pandemic, a London business school has warned.

Nearly two-thirds of entrepreneurs felt their business might not survive the pressures of Covid-19, while more than half predicted they would run out of money within the next 12 months, according to the new study from King’s Business School.

Continue reading...

National Trust to cut 1,300 jobs as a result of Covid-19 crisis

Posted on by

More than 500 compulsory redundancies as charity aims for annual savings of £100m

Almost 1,300 jobs are to be lost at the National Trust as a result of the coronavirus crisis, but the charity said it had more than halved the number of compulsory redundancies it expected to make.

A union has described the job losses as “devastating” for people affected but also called the plan “a reasonable way to move forward”.

Continue reading...

Summer spending boosted Britain but winter job cuts have yet to bite

Posted on by

Reductions in government support as the original furlough scheme ends point towards a brutal round of redundancies

The UK economy continued its rapid rebound from the depths of the coronavirus lockdown in August, the latest official data on growth is expected to show on Friday, but many economists are braced for a grim winter as job losses mount.

The Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, predicted last week that GDP would be “only around 3-4% below its pre-Covid level” by the end of the third quarter, covering July to September.

Continue reading...

What’s missing from the chancellor’s new scheme to save jobs?

Posted on by

Five measures absent from the chancellor’s winter economy plan

Rishi Sunak’s winter economy plan prioritises additional support for “viable” jobs. However, critics have warned that other measures are still needed to help people who have already lost their jobs or will lose them despite the new government scheme.

Here are five measures that could help keep workers in jobs, but were missing from the chancellor’s winter economy plan:

Continue reading...

Rolls-Royce reports record £5.4bn loss as Covid-19 hits aviation

Posted on by

Several production sites to close after slump in demand for jet engines

The jet engine maker Rolls-Royce made a record loss of £5.4bn in the first half of the year, after the collapse in international travel during the pandemic led to to a slump in demand.

The Derby-based company said it had originally expected to manufacture 450 engines during 2020 but now planned to deliver only 250.

Continue reading...

Covid-19: UK economy plunges into deepest recession since records began

Posted on by

GDP falls 20.4% – the worst of any G7 nation in the three months to June

Britain has entered the deepest recession since records began as official figures on Wednesday showed the economy shrank by more than any other major nation during the coronavirus outbreak in the three months to June.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic prosperity, fell in the second quarter by 20.4% compared with the previous three months – the biggest quarterly decline since comparable records began in 1955.

Continue reading...

BA begins to carry out its ‘fire and rehire’ threat to jobs

Posted on by

As airline moves to cut 12,000 jobs, senior crew told they will get 80% of current basic pay

British Airways has started carrying out its threat to fire and rehire thousands of workers – days after unions joined talks with a plan to save jobs.

Long-serving cabin crew were served notice this week to either accept an enhanced redundancy package within three weeks, or risk losing it by reapplying for a similar job at much lower pay.

Continue reading...

Virgin Atlantic agrees £1.2bn rescue deal amid coronavirus slump

Posted on by

Investors pump in funds, loans and deferrals alongside Branson’s £200m injection

Virgin Atlantic has announced a £1.2bn rescue deal to allow Sir Richard Branson’s grounded passenger airline to survive another 18 months and aim to return to profit in 2022, after four months without scheduled flights.

The privately funded recapitalisation package, a combination of cash injections, loans, and deferrals, was finally confirmed on Tuesday after weeks of talks with potential investors, after Virgin’s attempts to garner state support were rebuffed.

Continue reading...

‘As if we were the disease’: coronavirus brings prejudice for Italy’s Chinese workers

Posted on by

Xenophobia and job losses prompt textile industry staff in Tuscany to consider returning to China

At the beginning of February, Ilaria Santi, a councillor in the Italian city of Prato, in Tuscany, visited the canteen of an elementary school. A Chinese girl asked her: “Aren’t you afraid of eating next to me?”

“I replied: ‘Why should I be afraid?’ and she said: ‘Afraid that I infect you with the coronavirus.’” I replied that the virus was unfortunately in the minds of too many people,” said Santi.

Continue reading...

BA says jobs will go as airline industry faces crisis ‘worse than 9/11’

Posted on by

Coronavirus memo says British Airways will be ‘parking aircraft in a way we never have before’

British Airways has warned staff it is in a fight for survival and expects to make job cuts and ground an unprecedented number of planes, as it said the coronavirus pandemic has caused a crisis “worse than 9/11” for the airline industry.

BA’s chief executive, Alex Cruz, said in a message to 45,000 employees entitled “The Survival of British Airways” that the airline would be “parking aircraft in a way we never have before” after the drop in demand was compounded by the shock US travel ban from Europe announced on Wednesday night. It came as the German media reported that the country’s flagship carrier, Lufthansa, might ground most of its fleet and ask for state aid in the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise move.

Continue reading...