UK’s leading union 'Unite' Locks horn with Menzies Aviation over Pay negotiations , says three days strike in February will disrupt Travel during half-term breaks and skiing trips !

'Unite - the Union' Locks horn with Menzies Aviation !

Unite the Union has been critical of Menzies Aviation from June 2020 , after the Firm had Put 300 of it's airport workers in Edinburgh and Glasgow on notice of imminent redundancy, followed by the action where Menzies Aviation furloughed more than 17,500 jobs worldwide in March 2020 in response to the global travel slump triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Over 400 workers employed by the ground handling and refuelling company Menzies will go on strike on 11th feb-13th Feb in a dispute over pay.
• 'Unite' says, Menzies Aviation , unlike its competitors dnata and Swissport, has refused to enter into meaningful negotiations over outstanding pay increases for its workers for either 2020 or 2021.

In June 2020, Giles Wilson, CEO of Menzies Aviation had kept a stand by saying,

It is with great sadness we have taken the difficult decision to enter into consultation with our employees and unions to reduce the size of our airport teams in the UK & Ireland.

In a Current Development, Unite has said , Menzies Aviation is not entering into any dialogue regarding pay issues of it's 400 plus members at Heathrow airport .Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has been saying, 

The UK is facing a cost of living crisis and our members at Menzies realise that a two year pay freeze will make it impossible to make ends meet.

Unite released to press,

Passengers booked on half-term breaks and skiing trips from Heathrow are set for severe delays, as a result of ground handling and refuelling company Menzies Aviation, refusing to even enter into pay negotiations, after previously firing and rehiring 810 of its workforce.

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Unite Further specified the dates of strike at Heathrow ,

Four hundred workers, who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, will take three days of strike action beginning on Friday 11 February beginning at 00:01hrs and finishing at 23:59 on Sunday 13^th February 2020

​Unite says, Menzies Aviation is practcing "Fire and rehire" , and has frozen the pay increase for last two years,

Tensions have been greatly heightened as a result of Menzies firing and rehiring hundreds of its workers at the peak of the pandemic, which resulted in them experiencing huge pays cuts. In the most extreme cases workers saw pay rates fall by £9,000 a year.

To add insult to injury, Menzies has refused to enter into meaningful negotiations for outstanding pay increases for both 2020 and 2021. This is in sharp contrast to Menzies’ competitors including Swissport, Cobalt, GH London and dnata, who have agreed pay increases for their workers.

Unite also blames Menzies Aviation on the appalling treatment of workers, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:

Menzies cynically used the cover of the pandemic to fire and rehire its workers to boost long-term profits and it is now refusing to even consider a pay rise.

Given the appalling treatment Menzies workers have received from their employer it is little surprise that they felt they had no option but to take strike action.

“Bad employers need to be aware that Unite is wholly committed to defending and protecting the pay and conditions of its members. Unite’s members at Menzies will receive the union’s full and complete support until this dispute is resolved.”

Mentioning about the Airport and airlines function disruptions , Unite describes the tasks of it's members , who are employees of  Menzies Aviation  , and says  , airlines will be affected as One group of it's members provides ground handling and passenger services for a host of airlines including: American, Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, China airlines, Air Canada, Germanwings, Croatian, Icelandair, Finnair, Aer Lingus, Egyptair, Qantas and Loganair.

Talking about the other group, unite says, the other group is responsible for refuelling for British Airways and a joint venture operation with Shell/Exxon and Mobil, hence collectively there will be a domino effect and the strikes will inevitably cause disruption and delays, once strikes continues further.

Unite regional officer Kevin Hall said, Menzies Aviation is responsible for the strikes,

“The strike action will inevitably cause severe disruption and delays throughout Heathrow but it is taken as a last resort and is entirely of Menzies’ own making.

“Even at this late stage, Menzies could avoid causing huge disruption at Heathrow next month by making a decent pay offer to its workers and returning to the negotiating table.”

Unite has further said in it's briefing that Menzies Aviation has remained a Profitable company, and there is a bias within company's  different division's pay scale treatment ,

The workers at Menzies believe that they are being treated as second class citizens within their own company as workers in Menzies’ cargo division secured a seven per cent pay increase in 2021.

It will be interesting to note, what Menzies Aviation thinks about upcoming strikes and reply they have got to avoid any disruption in  their services to the Heathrow Airport and the Airlines !