Do & Co to axe over a 1,000 jobs

The Unite union has claimed more than 1,000 catering jobs at Do & Co, Heathrow’s largest caterer, are at risk.

The union said the catering company, which serves British Airways, is making 1,068 staff redundant, bringing its total to 1,377 job losses, since the pandemic started. Just 507 staff will be left after the latest jobs’ cull.

Do & Co previously reported its global revenues fell by 87% between April and June because of the pandemic.

Unite said the company had refused to put its workers on the government’s newly extended coronavirus job retention scheme, unlike other airline caterers at Heathrow.

The new job retention scheme will support 80% of the wages of furloughed workers from Thursday.

The first of the workers reportedly received their redundancy notices last Friday, meaning more jobs could be made cut before Christmas.

Shereen Higginson, a regional officer at Unite said: “We want this company to engage in the furlough scheme because these are the caterers who are the invisible army of aviation.”

Catering Today contacted Do & Co for comment.