STRIKES at two UK airports have been described as "inevitable" this summer and could even take place later this month. Airport workers have voted strongly in favour of walkouts, with as many as 300 staff members involved altogether. ICTS Central Search Workers at Glasgow and Abderdeen have rejected a four per cent rise backdated to January and a £500 one-off payment and are now pressing ahead with plans for industrial action.
The staff members involved include those who deal with passengers directly in the security search areas . They also cover mobile patrols, control access posts, screen all deliveries and deal with emergency services, so disruption would be expected, should the strikes take place. Threats of strikes first emerged at both Glasgow and Aberdeen airports last month, amid claims of "fatigue, exhaustion and stress" among staff working "beyond six hours with no break".
And this morning (Tuesday 2 July), Scotland’s leading aviation union Unite has said that those staff members have "emphatically backed" strike action. As many as 98.5 per cent of workers at Glasgow Airport , involving around 200 staff members, voted in favour of the walkouts.
Meanwhile, a ballot involving around 100 workers at Aberdeen Airport returned a similar result, with 89.7 per cent backing the strikes. Unite has said that unless there is "significant movement" by ICTS in the coming days then strike action could start mid-July, at the peak of the summer holidays .
The union's general secre.
