GMB union calls for halt to outsourcing sackings done under cover of national crisis
ASOS MAKE ‘HEARTLESS, IMMORAL AND HYPOCRITICAL’ REDUNDANCIES SENDING UK JOBS OVERSEAS DURING COVID CRISIS
GMB union calls for halt to outsourcing sackings done under cover of national crisis
GMB Union, the union for ASOS workers, has criticised the company for making workers redundant during the COVID-19 crisis and offshoring to call centres in the Philippines and elsewhere.
ASOS plans to make up to 300 call centre workers redundant at its Leavesden site after issuing a consultation notice as the country looked likely to head into lockdown - the 45 days consultation period ends on Saturday 2 May 2020.
GMB members have reported that they have already started to receive letters confirming they will be made redundant.
Workers let go now will be unlikely to find work because of the lockdown and face applying for Universal Credit.
ASOS has made headlines for conditions at its Barnsley warehouse where videos have highlighted a lack of social distancing and workers crammed into buses to get to the site while ASOS push big, online sales.
Steve Garelick, GMB London Region Organiser said:
“ASOS say they are ‘fashion with integrity’. You could have fooled me. The company is sacking workers under the cover of a national crisis in order to save money by off shoring their jobs.
What are sacked workers supposed to do? Instead of furloughing workers which ASOS could well afford to do, the company are washing their hands of all responsibility and sending jobs overseas - it’s heartless and immoral.
It’s completely hypocritical. In Barnsley, ASOS said they had to stay open - after its workers said they felt unsafe at work - to help keep the economy running - where’s that staunch commitment to the UK economy now?
Sending these jobs overseas when the UK needs every job and income it can get shows the contempt the company holds UK communities in the middle of a crisis while the rest of us are pulling together - it’s the bottom line above all else for them.
There’s still time to do the right thing, if they are serious about acting with ‘integrity’ they need to halt this plan now.”
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Contact:
Steve Garelick, GMB London Region Organiser 079 6776 3980
GMB London Region Press Office 079 7001 9643
