the thin red line

by New Worker correspondent

One of catering company Compass Group’s subsidiaries, Eurest Support Services (ESS) has been condemned as Britain’s most “heartless employer” for the manner in which it has been treating staff working on Ministry of Defence bases. They have been forced to sign new contracts making them hundreds of pounds worse off with the alternative of immediately losing their jobs.
     The workers, who are employed on outsourced MoD contracts mostly as cooks and cleaners on minimum wage, and are facing cuts in hours as well as a reduction in their working weeks. The sites they service include RAF Shawbury, RAF Cosford, and dry land Navy bases HMS Sultan, HMS Excellent, HMS Collingwood, and various army depots.
     The workers are facing a cut in their working weeks from the normal 52 to 50, 49 or even 48. Some of them face losing up to £1,600 a year.
     Unite the union points out that this is even worse than similar cases such as those at British Airways and Heathrow Airport because ESS is actively ordering workers to “sign or be made redundant”. In addition the union does not believe this is a genuine redundancy situation because ESS has not issued either a HR1 or section 188 notice, or undertaken any genuine consultation process on redundancies. Instead workers are required to undertake face-to-face meetings with local managers and the responses to fears about impending poverty have been callous.
     Unite reports that members have raised concerns such about not being able to afford their rent or mortgage, or “if I lose all this money I might have to use a foodbank” and “I’m on minimum wage as it is, what am I going to do?” Managements response has been to tell them they’re getting an extra ten days extra holiday and even “you may be eligible for Universal Credit, I can come across and go through the process with you and help you apply”.
     Managerial assurances that they would get a pay rise in April were, in fact, only a reference to the planned rise in the minimum wage, which ESS is legally obliged to pay.
     Caren Evans, Unite’s senior officer for defence workers said: “They are using a false redundancy process to force workers who are already on the breadline to accept huge pay cuts.
     “Unite does not believe this is a lawful process but ESS is relying on the fear and intimidation it can exert on workers on the minimum wage, to force these callous changes through.
     “The fact that this is on MoD contracts and involves workers who are dedicated to care for our armed forces is simply appalling”.
    She also deplored the fact that “ESS is seeking to squeeze every penny from these contracts and it doesn’t care about the service our armed forces receive or the effect it will have on workers”. That is of course what capitalist contractors do.
     Ms Evans also added “It is even more appalling that the government and the top brass at the MoD are refusing to take action and are looking the other way as misery and exploitation is occurring on their watch”.
     ESS have been blaming the Covid-19 pandemic for the changes but its MoD contracts have been unaffected and the workers were required to keep working throughout lockdown so the common excuse for cutting wages hold even less water than normal.
     ESS tried to do the same in 2017 in the Gosport area, including Fort Blockhouse, in 2017. Then  Unite took ESS to an employment tribunal for breach of contract. ESS was then forced to accept that the cutting of the working weeks was illegal and it was forced to reinstate the working weeks and pay and average compensation of £1,900.