Baggage handlers face axe
UNION SAYS FIRM WANTS TO CUT 42PC OF WORKFORCE AT AIRPORT
GROUND staff based at Manchester Airport are facing redundancy after an aviation company proposed to make substantial job cuts.
Stobart Aviation Services is looking to reduce the number of baggage handlers at Manchester, Southend and Stansted airports.
The company provides ground handling, passenger services and airside logistics to a number of UK airports.
Union Unite said the firm is consulting to make 63 out of 149 workers at Manchester Airport redundant – 42 per cent of the work force.
At Southend Airport, which has already seen both Aer Lingus and easyJet leave, proposed job losses are 94 out of 153 employees.
The company is proposing to make 98 out of 147 workers at Stansted Airport redundant – 67pc of total jobs.
Unite say the latest round of redundancies is ‘almost certainly’ linked to the proposed end of the government’s furlough scheme.
The Job Retention Scheme (JRS) is due to formally conclude at the end of
October, despite the fact that airports are still not working at full capacity. Unite have warned that without targeted support for the aviation, aerospace and hospitality sectors, jobs will be lost ‘needlessly.’
Unite national officer for civil air transport, Oliver Richardson, said: “The proposed job losses at Stobart Aviation are yet another example of why the sector needs specific support from the government. Time and again we warned that this would happen. Aviation workers and this sector feel abandoned by this government. With the JRS scheduled to end next month, companies feel they are on a cliff edge and with passenger numbers not likely to begin to recover until next year at the earliest, many feel pushed into making dramatic job cuts. The Chancellor originally promised specific support for the aviation sector back in March and the failure to deliver on that promise has already cost thousands of workers their jobs.”
The union says it will be entering into ‘detailed negotiations’ with Stobart Aviation to ensure that job losses are kept to a minimum. Stobart Aviation Services has been contacted for comment.
Aviation workers and this sector feel abandoned by this government Oliver Richardson of Unite