Birmingham airport staff may strike in pay row
Birmingham airport workers could hold disruptive summer strikes after bosses said they “did not have the money” for pay rises that were agreed last year.
Check-in staff and baggage handlers, who are employed by Swissport, are angry about a 2.75 per cent pay increase that has not been honoured by their employers.
The two-year pay deal was agreed last year and salaries should have increased from April 1.
The same deal was agreed with members across the country, who also work at the UK’s busiest airports, including London Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted, as well as Manchester, Glasgow and Newcastle.
The Unite union confirmed that Swissport had told them it does not have the money.
John Partridge, deputy regional secretary at Unite, said: “This is a two-year deal that was agreed last year but has not been paid. There was a formal agreement for a 2.75 per cent pay increase that should have started in April.
“They told staff that they were very sorry but they were not honouring the pay rise because they could not afford it. They said they simply didn’t have the money.
“They agreed to meet one of our national officers. He told them that they had to come up with the cash. We went out to the members to see if they would support the principal of industrial action and they said yes.
