Airline passengers could face a summer of disruptions if disputes between workers and aviation bosses deepens, a union has warned. GMB general secretary Gary Smith said workers could be forced to take industrial action unless rows with airline bosses are resolved.
The result of a ballot is due to announced after the June 23 cut-off. Mr Smith told the Mirror : “If there is strike action what it is going to do is absolutely grind airports across the UK to a halt.
“It’s going to have a devastating impact on the UK in terms of the economy, and it will invariably have an impact on the travelling public. Nobody wants that but we need to understand the absolute anger that exists amongst a group of workers across the aviation sector who have not had the respect or rewards they have deserved for years.”
He blasted the Government for failing to deliver an aviation-specific recovery deal following the coronavirus pandemic, and accused airlines and airports of being short-sighted by axing thousands of staff at the start of the Covid-19 crisis. He said rampant inflation, currently running at 9% and tipped to surge beyond 10%, and soaring energy bills were hammering members’ finances.
“What you’re seeing is working people who are determined to try and defend their standards of living,” he said. “They have been under the cosh from the travelling public, they’re angry, they’re upset, they’re feeling alienated.”
He added: “The chickens have come home to roost for an economy where we’ve been locked into a race to the bottom for so long and an economy that’s hooked on low-pay, insecure employment and casualisation.
“We have failed to plan for our economic future.”
Accusing the Government of being “tin-eared”, he also blasted the industry for “failing to prepare as we emerge from the pandemic”. With hundreds of flights cancelled this week, huge delays and snaking queues at terminals, he added: “People are going to want to travel, industry needs to get things moved around the globe - this was bound to happen and it’s entirely frustrating.”
BA engineers at Heathrow, Gatwick and in Scotland and call centre staff in Newcastle and Manchester are involved in this month’s strike ballot. Meanwhile, hundreds of their BA check-in colleagues at Heathrow began voting this week on whether to strike in a row over pay.
“Employers need to realise people are staring into a cost of living crisis,” Mr Smith warned. “We have got a particular dispute with BA.
“My fear is that the industrial unrest … will spread across the aviation sector. These things tend to be contagious.”
He called for the airline to “get round the table” and “talk to us about reinstating cuts to pay”. “This is avoidable if BA works with us in good faith, this is avoidable if the Government works with us about a sector plan for the long term in aviation,” he said.
A BA spokeswoman said: “We are aware that some of our customer service colleagues will be participating in a ballot for industrial action initiated by Unite and GMB. Whilst not surprising given the issues across the transport sector, it's extremely disappointing. “After a deeply difficult two years which saw the business lose more than £4billion, these colleagues were offered a 10% payment for this year which was rejected.
“We remain fully committed to talks with our trade unions about their concerns and we hope that together we can find a way to reach an agreement in the best interests of our people and our customers.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson ’s spokesman said: “As this country emerges from the pandemic, this is a time when the public, when businesses are trying to get back on their feet. The public are rightly looking to get away for the summer and we don’t want to see this kind of disruption in any sector.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer ’s spokesman said: “Nobody wants to see industrial action that is going to be disruptive to UK business or to UK families. We would always want to ensure that work is done to avoid industrial action being necessary.”
Stressing that “unions have got a role in representing their workforces”, he insisted that “people have the right to withdraw their labour in line with the law”. But he added: “We would encourage all the parties involved to get together and ensure that we don’t end in a situation with disruptive industrial action.”
