Workers accept pay deal but other airport staff could still strike
Ground staff at Glasgow Airport have secured an 11 per cent pay rise as other workers continue to threaten strike action.
Menzies Aviation, which handles a number of operations at the Paisley transport hub, has offered its 200-strong workforce the near inflation-matching hike.
Unite the union, which represented staff in the negotiations, described the offer as “excellent”.
Yesterday, it revealed that 82 per cent of its affected members – including dispatchers, allocators, air-side agents and controllers – had now voted to accept the oneyear deal.
The agreement will be backdated to January this year, and follows an increase on last year’s deal with Menzies which had increased basic pay by up to 9.1 per cent.
It comes just weeks after Unite dubbed the five per cent offered by other airport employers as “poverty pay”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is an excellent deal at Menzies Aviation secured by our brilliant reps who have ensured that over 200 workers at Glasgow Airport have secured better pay, terms and conditions by being a member of Unite.
“This further demonstrates this union’s determined work to improve wages and conditions across Scotland’s airports.”
Other enhancements include a rise in the overtime rate to timeand-a-half, increased holiday entitlement and the introduction of a sick pay scheme after six months service which Menzies Aviation said it would explore in May 2022.
Pat McIlvogue, Unite industrial officer, added: “Unite is delighted to have secured a fantastic deal for our members.
“It not only ensures our members’ pay keeps pace with living costs but the deal will see a number of other enhancements introduced including a boost to overtime rates.
“It’s important to say that this deal was achieved through negotiation and other companies based at Glasgow Airport could learn a thing or two from this deal.”
Passengers at the airport were earlier warned of a “summer of travel chaos” after “poverty pay” offers were rejected by workers at the airport.
Unite chiefs announced on May 9 that it will be balloting members over potential strike action after hundreds of airport staff knocked back their employers’ latest pay offers which were of around five per cent.
Inflation currently sits at 12.7 per cent.
The industrial action threat encompasses more than 400 workers at five different companies including Glasgow Airport Ltd, ICTS Central Search, OCS, ABM and Falck Fire Services UK.
Collectively, these companies and their staff take responsibility for cleaning, airport security, airport fire safety, airfield operations and engineering duties.
This deal was achieved through negotatiations... other airport companies could learn a thing or two