Bailouts for workers and planet, not billionaires!

The Labour Party

The coronavirus crisis has sent the aviation industry into freefall and thrown its supply chain into chaos. Since March, EasyJet, Virgin Atlantic and IAG (owner of British Airways) have all asked for government bailouts, with nearly £1bn already paid out.

Meanwhile, they’ve paid millions in dividends to shareholders and cut tens of thousands of jobs. The aviation industry is failing its workers - who, through unions like Unite, are fighting plans for mass redundancies at BA and Rolls-Royce while the Tories stand idly by. We need state intervention.

But we cannot revert to a broken system. Aviation is set to be the UK’s largest source of emissions by 2050. Labour’s plan to fund a return to a growing aviation sector would lock us into runaway climate breakdown. Instead, we need a people’s bailout for workers & planet, not billionaires & shareholders.

We call on Labour to:
  1. Campaign for the government to implement a sector-wide deal for the aviation industry and take public stakes of struggling aviation companies. These should include mandatory commitments to decarbonisation, winding down domestic flights and retraining workers for green jobs.
  2. Pressure the government to ensure there are strict conditions for rapid decarbonisation attached to any bailouts of big business through Project Birch.
  3. Advocate justice for workers in companies bailed out through Project Birch, by constraining executive pay, ensuring fair taxation and campaigning for a unionised green jobs and training guarantee.
  4. Work with Labour in local and devolved government to enact climate bailouts, with strict decarbonisation targets and investment in public sector green jobs programmes.

By taking a public stake when rescuing big businesses, the government can power a just transition for workers and planet, instead of bungs for billionaires like Richard Branson. In place of non-existent sustainable fuels, Labour should immediately call for the government to take public stakes in aviation firms as part of a sector-wide deal to reduce flights.

We can't repeat the mistakes of 2008. With the government's Project Birch aiming to save ‘strategically important’ companies, Labour must fight alongside trade unions for workers’ rights & climate justice.

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