PLANNED strikes by airport workers that would have caused travel misery over the bank holiday period were called off early today.
The dispute involved airport services business Swissport, and cabin staff and baggage handlers who are members of the Unite and GMB unions. It would have affected Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester airports.
After hours of talks at conciliation service Acas, both unions said today that they had suspended the planned strikes.
But flights at Stansted could still be affected as a separate GMB dispute at Stansted involving more than 30 security scanners employed by Airport Services is still due to go ahead on bank holiday Monday.
The Swissport dispute has involved pay, with both the GMB and Unite now putting a new, improved offer to their members.
Before the breakthrough at Acas, air passengers were facing 24-hour strikes at Gatwick and Stansted on bank holiday Monday and on Friday August 29 as well as 24-hour strikes at Manchester on Wednesday August 27 and Monday September 1.
Gary Pearce of the GMB said: "As a result of today's talks at Acas between the unions and Swissport we have a new improved offer to put to our members.
"Because of the improved offer all planned industrial action is suspended until we get the reaction of the members.
"This does not affect the industrial action for the scanner workers who are employed by Airport Services."
A spokesman for Unite said: "We have suspended the industrial action. After 12 hours of talks at Acas we now have a revised offer in which improvements have been made and we will now ballot our members."
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Airport strike called off
August 21, 2008
Bank holiday industrial action called off
Showing comments 1 to 3 and replies | View All
Bean B4, manchester (21/08/2008 at 11:15)
mike smith (21/08/2008 at 14:30)
I had been looking to change my job and as I live near the airport I looked at the various non-skilled jobs on offer. I can tell you the whole place is riddled with minimum wage salaries, I suppose thats ok if you are desperate for work or have come here from another country, but even then the employers there should be in disgrace because not satisfied with wanting to pay peanuts they want all your life ie, days and night working starting at all hours,rolling shifts that combine a day on, then the next shift is a night shift, meaning that your body cannot acclimatise properly. I have seen 2 of my friends who work there suffer breakdowns and untill the bosses start to offer proper wages I would advise all job seekers to look elsewhere, and give these modern day scrooges the heave ho, then what the airport do.
cloud 9 (21/08/2008 at 18:59)
The public want cheap flights I.E 25 pounds to Barcelona 30 pounds to Malaga etc,etc,etc Where do you think the industry cuts corners to be able to offer these kind of fares ?? Aircraft maintance ? NO! Security? NO! Landing fees? NO! New Building work? NO! The cuts are made at the bottom of the pile !to the ramp operations!!!! When people have been compaining on this site that they have been waiting hours for there bags, what do they think the baggage handlers have been doing ? drinking tea ? No in reality they have probably been bounced from aircraft to aircraft for hours on end without a break !! To the people who have said sack the lot of them ! who are you going to get to do the job ? The pay is poor, working awful shift patterns that start as early as 04:00 and late shits that can finish into the ealy hours, woking most weekends, bank holidays, x mas and new year ! I have seen countless people walk away after less than a week!
The problem is so bad that probably at least 10% of the work force on the ramp is now East European as no body wants to work here!
This is not just a problem at swissport this is industry wide.
So i ask you who is to blame ? The baggage staff trying to earn a living or the industry that allows this situation get this far!
Incedently I dont personaly work for swissport but know for a fact that only part of the pay deal initialy offered to them i.e 3% was released by the press it does not mention the other benifits that swissport were trying to take off them in exchange i.e sick pay ! Typical press only half the story !