Air strike Xmas hell
48hr pay row walkouts at 18 airports
CHRISTMAS holiday flights face chaos as staff at 18 airports strike for 48 hours next week.
Some 1,500 baggage, check-in and cargo crew at Swissport, the world’s largest ground and cargo handler, walk out on December 23 and 24 in a row over pay.
Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted will be hit in London, plus regional hubs including East Midlands, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol.
And 2,500 British Airways cabin crew at Heathrow voted in favour of walkouts on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Unite called on Swissport bosses to join talks through Acas after workers voted by 62.5% to reject a 4.65% threeyear pay deal – which the union claims barely keeps pace with inflation. Unite’s Oliver Richardson said: “Members are only taking this action as a last resort.” The BA strike comes after cabin crew rejected a 2% pay rise and 88.6% backed action. The Airport Operators Association said: “We urge all parties to work together to seek to avoid industrial action so that travellers can get to their destinations at this special time of year.” All 2,242 of Southern Railway’s services were cancelled yesterday as union Aslef rejected claims that a “practical offer” to end the driveronly trains row had been tabled.
WITH strikes threatening to disrupt Christmas flights, bosses need to get their act together and start earning their salaries by resolving disputes.
The planned 48-hour walkout over pay by check-in staff and baggage handlers at a string of airports from Newcastle and Manchester to Heathrow and Stansted could ruin breaks.
So executives at cargo handler Swissport must pull out all the stops to find a deal – and the same goes for bosses at the strife-hit Post Office and on-strike Southern trains.
Every walkout is a management failure if an organisation is unable to provide a service.
So it’s about time the company chiefs involved started earning their corn.