Inverness Airport staff to ballot on Easter strike
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INDUSTRIAL action could hit Inverness Airport from Good Friday.
Prospect union members working in airport group Highlands and Islands Airports Limited’s security company will ballot tomorrow (Friday) on whether to take industrial action.
"We expect support for action to be overwhelming," said Prospect national secretary Alan Denney. "This will send a loud and clear message that members are fed up with being treated as second class workers in HIAL."
The dispute is over equal pay, holidays, and sick pay for airport security workers at AMSL, part of HIAL.
HIAL brought security provision in-house six years ago.
Said Mr Denney: "The terms and conditions they work under leaves them wondering just where ministers in the Scottish government, which owns the company, see the fair work agenda applying in this business."
The ballot result will be known early afternoon tomorrow.
Prospect representatives will then meet Alan Denney at 1pm to consider the result and to determine the nature and duration of the action that they will take.
The union says its campaign will include both strike action, and action short of a strike, if members vote yes in the ballot.
The union represents more than 120 of AMSL’s 160 workers covering 11 Scottish airports including Dundee, Inverness, Stornoway and Sumburgh.
Meanwhile, a HIAL spokesman said: "We are still awaiting the result of the ballot and confirmation from the union of their intended action.
"In the meantime, we continue to urge the union to reconsider its entirely unreasonable pay claim which amounts to almost 30%.
"We are ready and willing to consider a more reasonable claim but the union has refused our offer to negotiate.
"We would also stress to passengers that, whatever action the union takes, our airports will open as normal during Easter. Passengers should continue to book their Easter holiday flights with confidence."
