Airport Staff In The UK Go On Strike For Two Days Over T&C and Pay

Travellers across the UK will be hit as over 1.500 baggage handlers, check-in staff and cargo handlers go on strike on Dec 23 for two days over a long running pay and terms and conditions dispute, this includes Manchester Airport.

Unite today (Dec 16) called on the management to take part in constructive negotiations under the auspices of the conciliation service Acas in a bid to avoid Christmas travel disruption at  UK’s airports.

Unite members voted by 62.5% to reject a 4.65% three year pay deal for 2015-2017, the staff  at the airports are also angry that detrimental changes to terms and conditions have been linked to the pay deal.

These changes to the t&c include, freezing overtime payments for the foreseeable future and restructuring pay according to Unite.

Unite national officer for civil air transport Oliver Richardson said: “We appreciate that this is a very busy time of year at the UK’s airports and that’s why we are calling for the company to engage in constructive talks under the auspices of Acas to resolve this dispute. Unite’s door is open 24/7 for such talks.

“Our members are only taking this industrial action as a last resort in a bid to reach a fair settlement – our members have not had a pay rise since 2014.

“When you break down the headline figures – one per cent in 2015, 1.25 per cent in 2016 and 2.4 per cent in 2017 – they are barely keeping up with inflation.

“The company only wants these increases to be applicable to basic pay and not the other elements that make up ‘pay’ such as overtime.

“The dispute has been compounded by the high-handed attitude of the management in making proposals that would seriously impact the workforce’s terms and conditions, such as freezing overtime payments.”

Unite has Swissport members at the following airports: Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Bournemouth,  Cardiff, Doncaster, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Gatwick  Glasgow,  Heathrow, Leeds/Bradford, Luton,  Manchester, Newcastle, and Southampton and Stansted.