Holidaymakers face chaos after Edinburgh Airport staff vote to strike

Holidaymakers face summer of travel chaos after Edinburgh Airport workers voted for strike action in row over pay, union warns

• Unite members at Edinburgh Airport voted to strike after rejecting 11% pay rise
• Staff in security, terminal operations and search areas will take industrial action

Holidaymakers face another summer marred by strike action after airport workers voted to strike in a row over pay.

Unite balloted 275 staff members at Edinburgh Airport, many of them based in security, terminal operations and search areas.

It said 85 per cent backed strike action on a 75 per cent turnout, and it is now calling on airport chiefs to get back round the table with an improved pay offer to avert disruption during the summer period.

Unite said its members at Edinburgh Airport rejected an inferior pay offer to one made to staff at Gatwick, where a 12 per cent increase plus a £1,500 one-off cash payment has been accepted by the workforce.

Edinburgh Airport said it had offered an 11 per cent pay rise along with a £1,000 cost-of-living payment and has now made an improved offer to staff.

Unite balloted 275 staff members at Edinburgh Airport, many of them based in security, terminal operations and search areas (Pictured: Unite members striking outside Heathrow in March)

Edinburgh Airport said it had offered an 11 per cent pay rise along with a £1,000 cost-of-living payment and has now made an improved offer to staff.

HEATHROW SECURITY GUARDS STAGE FRESH STRIKE OVER PAY

Security guards at Heathrow Airport will launch a three-day strike on Thursday in a dispute over pay.

Members of Unite have already held 15 days of industrial action, including over the busy Easter period.

Heathrow said it has contingency plans in place to keep the airport open and operating as usual, adding that passengers can expect to have a ‘smooth’ half-term getaway.

Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: ‘We made a generous 10 per cent offer early on, to make sure colleagues got a substantial increase when they needed it most.’

May half-term is always a very busy time for travel, and Heathrow said it may take a little longer than usual to get through security, but added this will be ‘well-managed and kept flowing’.

Unite said Heathrow security officers are paid less than workers at other airports in London and the South East.

Regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: ‘There is absolutely no justification for security officers at Heathrow being paid far less than comparable officers at other London airports.’

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: ‘Unite’s members at Edinburgh Airport have emphatically backed strike action. The pay offer on the table is nowhere near good enough and airport bosses know it.

‘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.

‘Unite will always support our members in the fight for better jobs, pay and conditions.’

The union previously claimed members’ pay at Edinburgh Airport has been cut by around 10% in real-terms over the last seven years, and said workers are ‘prepared to fight for a better deal’.

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.

‘Unite is insistent on comparing this offer to the one made at Gatwick but the important context missing from that comparison pushed by Unite is that this 11% increase at Edinburgh Airport would be the third pay rise given to the team since 2020, representing an overall increase of 19.6%. 

‘In contrast, this is the first offer made by Gatwick in the same time frame – a point Unite purposefully fails to note.

‘We have proposed a deal that is well above what has been offered to many other workers in Scotland and is well above inflation. We still have serious concerns about the integrity of the original ballot and the number of members that voted – concerns Unite have failed to address.

‘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. We remain open to negotiating in good faith with our unions and have agreed to participate in future talks.’

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