Union leaders have urged chancellor Rishi Sunak to launch a wage subsidy scheme to avoid mass redundancies at the end of the furlough scheme.
The government’s job retention scheme is due to finish at the end of October, leading to warnings from a range of industries including travel of massive job cuts as firms look to survive the winter with no meaningful income.
On Thursday, the UK’s leading travel associations launched the Save Future Travel Coalition to present a united lobbying front, building on the Save Future Travel campaign launched by Abta in April.
A wage subsidy scheme forms part of the coalition’s plan, alongside business grants, an APD ‘holiday’, a regionalised quarantine approach and improved testing to facilitate travel.
The Trades Union Congress said a subsidy scheme similar to that used in countries such as Germany, Austria and France could prevent a “tsunami of unemployment” at the end of the furlough scheme, the Guardian reported.
The TUC suggested such a scheme could include a 70% government subsidy based on all workers returning for a minimum proportion of their normal working hours, arguing such a policy would offer more “targeted” support for companies that could prove they had been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 crisis.
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Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said: “The job retention scheme showed what the government can do during a crisis. It saved many people from the dole queue and stopped good companies going to the wall.
“Ministers cannot afford to throw away the good work of the job retention scheme. There is still time to avoid a tsunami of unemployment.”
She added: “The TUC’s jobs protection and upskilling deal will help firms with a future keep people on – and protect the jobs and incomes of millions.
“The deal isn’t a free ride for employers. Businesses that get help will have to pay a fair rate of tax in the UK, pay their staff fairly and treat them well.
“Working people carried the burden of the pandemic. They must not bear the brunt of this recession too. Protecting decent jobs with fair pay is how we recover.”
