Hundreds of workers at Glasgow Airport are to be balloted over strike action amid warnings of a “summer of travel chaos”.
Unite the union is going to seek members approval for the strikes, claiming offers from employers amount to “poverty pay”.
More than 400 members of the union will be balloted following pay offers from five separate employers being rejected.
They are Glasgow Airport Ltd, ICTS Central Search, OCS, ABM and Falck Fire Services UK.
Unite members across these companies undertake various roles including cleaning, airport security, airport fire safety, airfield operations officers, and engineering technicians.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “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 operational 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.”
ABM cleaners who were at the forefront of ensuring that the Paisley-based airport was fully compliant with safety measures and procedures throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, have unanimously rejected a pay offer that would take basic pay to £10.82 per hour.
Around 200 ICTS Central Search members have rejected a pay offer which would increase basic pay to £12.61. Workers deal with passengers directly in the security search area and process them for flights. They cover mobile patrols, control access posts, screen all deliveries and deal with the emergency services at Glasgow.
OCS Group workers aid passengers with reduced mobility issues including assisting with wheelchairs and vehicles for travellers at airports.
More than 50 workers have rejected an offer which would take basic pay to £10.90 per hour.
Around 50 Falck firefighters who perform fire safety functions at the airport have also rejected a basic five per cent pay offer.
Unite also says that there has been no progress with AGS Airports – which owns Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports – on a formal pay offer to around 100 Unite members for 2023, and that 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.”
Unite says that if a “fair and decent offer” isn’t forthcoming from employers that “a summer of travel chaos is on the horizon”, adding that it “will be on the heads of these companies for any disruption caused to passengers”.
An AGS Airports spokesperson said: “We are in ongoing and progressive dialogue with the trade union on pay discussions for this year.”
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