Scots holidaymakers have been warned of a summer of chaos at airports fuelled by serious staff shortages.
Unions representing workers in security, baggage handling and ground support have warned there is a “clear and present danger” of the huge queues seen at airports like Edinburgh and Glasgow this week escalating at the height of the summer holiday season.
Firms supplying services to airports have been accused of failing to heed warnings that were sounded loudly during the pandemic, as they axed huge numbers of staff while most flights were grounded.
Companies were told the wholesale redundancies they were making were “cutting too deep” and the effects could be felt by travellers for years.
The Scottish and UK governments are also accused of failing to attach conditions to furlough bailouts that would have stopped deep cuts to workforces.
Aviation firms are accused of:
● Drastic erosion of both pay and conditions
● Sacking too many staff during
the Covid pandemic, then failing to attract them back
● Replacing experienced staff with inexperienced workers on zero-hour contracts
● Poaching staff from rival firms, causing a domino effect with staffing problems.
Pat McIlvogue, of the Unite union, said: “The impending staffing crisis was trumpeted by Unite two years ago, to both the Scottish and UK governments and to the companies that supply services to the airports.
“They refused to listen. That crisis duly arrived and what we now have is a clear and present danger of chaos and disruption at airports on a scale that we have never witnessed before.
“The problems are likely to escalate to the peak holiday season in July and August. There is a lot of work to be done in this industry to attract and retain workers who can do the job.”
McIlvogue said Unite has recently negotiated bumper deals to redress declining pay and conditions packages that have been the norm in recent years but highlighted that many staff who left to be delivery drivers and Amazon workers or take on other low-paid jobs see no advantage in coming back.
And he told how many staff were coming into the industry on zero-hour contracts, which were ironically now coming back to bite the firms.
He said: “This type of ‘precarious’ employment usually has all the jeopardy for the employee but the dynamic in aviation has changed, as the employers are the ones in a desperate situation. Staff can turn shifts down and we are seeing that happen.”
McIlvogue said Unite had made repeated representations to the UK and Scottish governments to build in conditions to the furlough scheme that would safeguard such critical staff shortages blowing up in the faces of bosses.
He said: “We argued that the furlough should come with sector-specific conditions that would stop huge numbers of staff being paid off but we were not listened to.
“We also advised government to take a stake in companies in return for the rescue packages, which could give them a say in the long-term staffing decisions but that never happened either.
“As a result, far too many people were paid off as companies who took advantage of the furlough didn’t want to be stuck with National Insurance commitments and pension contributions.”
There was an underestimation of summer business in airports, with more than eight million travellers expected instead of six-and-a-half million.
McIlvogue added: “We are looking at a potential perfect storm for a strained passenger experience at crowded airports.”
McIlvogue said that cancellations of flights would inevitably occur in Scotland as firms like easyJet and BA continue to battle their own similar staff shortages.
He said: “The airlines are up against it too and there will be more and more cancellations, although that situation hasn’t been as bad in Scotland as some English airports up to now.”
Images shared on social media this week showed passengers lining up outside terminal buildings at both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports in the busiest week since the start of the pandemic.
Cancellations of flights at Scottish airports have been less severe than hotspots such as Gatwick and Manchester, where thousands of holiday plans were shattered when easyJet, BA and TUI flights failed to take off.
EasyJet has cancelled more than 200 flights up to June 6 and Tui is cutting six flights a day for the next month due to staff shortages at Manchester Airport.
Unite said it recently settled big pay claims with major aviation service companies, bringing them up to and beyond the Real Living Wage of £9.90 in some cases. One big security company agreed to a hike of 28.5 per cent, taking basic pay to £11.50 per hour. Another took cleaners’ wages to the living wage.
The current volatility and variation in wages has led to a scramble for staff and poaching between companies who rely on employees having “blue pass” airside accreditation, which takes several weeks to secure, involving stringent background checks.
Fellow Unite rep Sandy Smart, who represents Edinburgh Airport workers, said it was clear conditions are very different from normal.
He said: “Airports will say that we are just having a busy period but I was at Edinburgh the other morning and it was extraordinary, with people queueing out the doors.
“I have never seen anything like it.
“I would say that people may have to accept that we are in for a very difficult summer and they should prepare for longer queues and a less pleasant airport experience right through July and August.”
The GMB union’s Scotland organiser Robert Deavy said: “The chickens have come to roost for government failure and industry greed. At the start of the pandemic, we told ministers at Westminster and Holyrood that a plan for the future of the sector and the workforce was needed because aviation would bounce back.
“Instead, political leaders ignored our proposals while the industry pocketed billions in furlough before culling thousands of jobs.
“They abandoned these workers and their livelihoods, and now the public are dealing with the consequences.”
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