Flights might get effected
Holiday in Icmeler or MArmaris in Turkey and going back to UK soon? Workers at airport operator BAA have voted in favour of strike action that could close Britain’s major airports this month. Over 2,000 union members at airport operator BAA have voted in favour of strike action over pay disputes.
Unite, in an announcement made at a press conference earlier today (12 August 2010) said that 74% of BAA’s staff who took part in the ballot voted for the strikes. However, less than half of the 6,185 union members eligible to vote did so.
Security staff, engineers, fire-fighters and support staff at BAA’s six airports in Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Glasfow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh were balloted regarding disputes over a one per cent pay offer. The union claims that the current offer of a one per cent increase on basic earning plus an additional 0.5% on changes to its sickness agreement “falls far short of expectations”. This follows on from a pay freeze which staff were subject to in 2009.
Brendan Gold, National Officer for Civil Aviation, Unite, comments: “This ballot result reflects what our members feel about BAA’s current attitude.
“BAA is doing passengers a great disservice by allowing this dispute to get to this stage. We are therefore calling on BAA to return to the negotiating table with a fair offer.”
Unite will be meeting with its representatives on 16 August 2010 to decide what form of industrial action union members will take.
