Over 400 Glasgow Airport based workers are set to be balloted on strike action following pay offers being rejected, or in one case no decent formal offer being made.
The trade union, Unite, has warned airport-based companies that if they don't offer a reasonable wage rise then strikes are inevitable.
Current workers are employed by five companies, those being: Glasgow Airport Ltd, ICTS Central Search, OCS, ABM and Falck Fire Services UK. Such members include cleaners, airport security, airport fire safety, airfield operations officers and engineering technicians.
Unite has now confirmed its plans to ballot workers on strike action as part of its ongoing campaign to deliver better jobs, pay and conditions at Glasgow Airport - during times when inflation remains historically high with RPI currently standing at 13.5 per cent.
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Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “ Unite has worked extremely hard over a number of years to ensure pay levels at Glasgow Airport kept up with the cost of living. What is now on offer, across the board, is real terms pay cuts and poverty pay.
"We will now ballot our members, at these five companies based at Glasgow Airport, because our members deserve better.
"It’s important to remember that it was Unite members who kept the airport clean, safe and operation throughout the pandemic. They did all this while enduring cuts to pay and conditions. It’s time for these companies to reward this loyalty by paying up.”
Around 200 ICTS Search workers rejected an improved pay offer which would increase their pay to £12.61, a rise by 94.4 per cent. The workers deal with passengers in the security search area and process them for flights. They cover mobile patrols, control access posts, screen all deliveries and deal with emergency services at Glasgow Airport.
Over 50 OCS Group workers rejected an offer by 96 per cent which would take basic pay to £10.90 per hour.
ABM cleaners who were at the forefront of ensuring that Glasgow Airport was fully compliant with safety measures and procedures throughout the Covid pandemic, have rejected a pay offer by 100 per cent which would take basic pay to £10.82 per hour.
Unite confirmed that Glasgow Airport made no formal pay offer to around 100 Unite members for 2023, while airport management have refused to pay a bonus to a number of engineers.
Pat McIlvogue, Unite industrial officer, added: "Over 400 Unite members based at Glasgow Airport have emphatically rejected unacceptable pay offers or in the case of the airport itself our members still haven’t even had any formal pay offer."
If these companies don’t come back with fair and decent offers then a summer of travel chaos is on the horizon . It will be on the heads of these companies for any disruption caused to passengers because we are giving them every opportunity to resolve this through negotiation. Unite will support our members every step of the way in the fight for better jobs, pay and conditions at Glasgow Airport."
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