FIRE-and-rehire tactics used by shameless bosses to drive down wages and conditions under cover of the Covid-19 pandemic must be banned, the TUC says.

Nearly 10 per cent of workers have been told to reapply for their jobs on worse terms and conditions or face the sack, and a quarter have already seen their pay or hours downgraded since the first lockdown, a shocking TUC poll published today reveals.

For young, black and minority-ethnic workers the picture is even worse, with 18 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds and 15 per cent of black workers reporting that their bosses had tried to rehire them on worse terms.