Pandemic is on the exit door , airports are exceeding capacity , chaos is freely available across the European hubs ! British Airways Heathrow check-in staffs ask - "when are you going to restore the 10% Paycut from Pandemic ? "
When major Airports are seeing flight cancellation due to staff shortages - little is being done to normalize the salaries of these Check-in staffs . So, Unite, the UK’s leading union, is balloting its members employed by British Airways at Heathrow airport for industrial action in a dispute over pay.
Management is back in action with their salaries without a struggle, as air travel picks up from the historic lows during Pandemic. This has irked the Airport staffs responsible to check the passengers in from behind the counters.
Unite said ,
The workers who are employed in the company’s ‘A scales division’, are angry that the company has restored management pay to pre-pandemic levels but refused to reverse a 10 per cent pay cut which was imposed on them during the pandemic.
They plan to keep an window of 21 day for the ballot action, after which a decisive action could take shape, which again might disrupt the scheduled flights of British Airways, if majority of workers vote in favour of the strikes during the busy summer holidays 22.
The industrial action ballot, which covers around 500 staff, will open on Tuesday 7 June and close on Monday 27 June. Should workers vote in favour of industrial action, strikes are expected to occur in July when demands for flights are expected to be high.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:
“British Airways used the cover of Covid to brutally cut members’ pay. BA has now reversed the pay cuts imposed on management but refuses to do this for our members. This is disgraceful. Unite will not allow our members to be treated as a second-class workforce.
“Our members are rightly furious and ready to take action. A strike by our members will make an immediate impact on the service to customers so I urge BA to get a grip and restore these workers’ pay immediately.
“Unite will be giving its members the union’s complete support until this dispute is resolved.”
Unite is ensuring everybody becomes a part of the ballot action including the other group of BA’s check in staff (HS2012) , so that decision shall be overwhelming and an impactful industrial action can be initiated.
Additionally, Unite is undertaking a consultative ballot of a separate group of BA’s check in staff (described as HS2012) over pay. If the workers back stoppages in the consultative ballot, then Unite will also move to a full industrial action ballot for these workers.
Unite regional officer Russ Ball said:
“British Airways has had every opportunity to resolve this dispute through negotiations but has decided not to do so. Our members are therefore balloting for industrial action as a last resort.
“Strike action and the accompanying disruption can be avoided by BA returning to negotiations and restoring our members’ pay rates to pre-pandemic levels.”
Source : Unite - the Union.
