Summer of flight chaos looms as staff at Edinburgh Airport reject pay offer

PASSENGERS have been warned they could face a summer of chaos after workers at Scotland’s largest airport backed strike action in a dispute over pay.

Unite balloted 275 staff at Edinburgh Airport, including members working in security, terminal operations and search areas.

The union confirmed that 85% of members backed strike action on a 75% turnout, and it is now calling on airport chiefs to get back around the table with an improved pay offer to avert disruption during the summer period.

Airport bosses have said they believed their previous offer of an 11% pay rise along with a £1,000 cost-of-living payment was “fair and competitive”.

Unite have claimed that the deal was inferior to the one made to staff at Gatwick, where workers received a 12% rise plus a £1,500 one-off payment.

An Edinburgh Airport spokesman questioned the comparison to Gatwick and said Scottish staff would be receiving a “third pay rise” since 2020 compared to the first rise for London workers in the same period.

But Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite’s members at Edinburgh Airport have emphatically backed strike action. A realistic pay offer needs to be put on the table which values our members in the same way as our members at Gatwick Airport.”

An Edinburgh Airport spokesman said: “This is a disappointing decision from Unite, especially after we met the ask of our unions – an 11% pay rise along with a £1,000 cost-of-living payment.

“We have made an improved offer to staff, with a 50% increase in the cost-of-living payment proposed. This has not yet been balloted on.”

He added: “We have made every attempt to avert industrial action and to agree a well-deserved pay rise for all of our hardworking employees, not just the minority who are Unite members.”