Campaign launched to Save Scotland’s Airports

The union Unite has launched a campaign to ‘Save Scotland’s Airports’ as the country’s aviation industry faces immense pressure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Companies and airlines operating in and from Scotland’s three major airports in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow have various redundancy consultations underway which threaten around 1,500 jobs.

Last week, Unite Scotland released the findings of a report conducted on behalf of the union by the nation’s leading economic research institute Strathclyde University’s Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) due to the scale of prospective job losses over the coming months.

The FAI report highlights that as a result of an estimated 1,500 direct job losses in civil aviation including companies such as Menzies Aviation and Swissport this will create a knock-on effect of job losses and spill-over effects in the wider economy leading to total job losses of around 2,330.

The direct effect of these redundancies on Gross Value Added (GVA) is around a £90m loss to the Scottish economy. The overall economic impact is a loss of around £140m to the Scottish economy after accounting for knock-on effects.

Unite is also drawing attention to Scottish based workers being disproportionately affected by the proposed redundancies compared to the rest of the UK, and also the attempts by companies such as British Airways and Menzies Aviation to roll-out ‘fire and re-hire’ practices.

The practice could reduce the take home pay of workers by potentially up to 45 per cent the union understands. Swissport, the UK’s largest ground handler, is proposing to reduce staffing levels in Scotland by 80 per cent (1,000 to 200 jobs), in contrast with a proposed reduction across the UK and Ireland of 50 per cent (9,000 to 4,500 jobs).

Unite Scotland is calling on its members and the wider public to contact their local and regional list MSPs in support of the union’s campaign for government intervention to prevent the potential collapse of civil air transport infrastructure, save jobs and protect wages and terms and conditions.

The union is demanding sector-specific support for civil air transport in Scotland, including the extension of the UK Government Job Retention Scheme; any government support, investment and taxation relief bounded by conditionality around protecting jobs and maintaining current terms and conditions of employment in line with the Fair Work principles.

It also wants an extension for any redundancy consultation processes undertaken thus far while sector support measures are brought forward; and removal of any ‘fire and re-hire’ proposals of employers operating in Scottish Airports.

Pat Rafferty, Unite Scottish Secretary said: "The launch of the ‘Save Scotland’s Airports’ campaign by Unite is vitally important in concentrating the minds of the Scottish and UK Governments on the immense pressure the civil aviation industry is under. There is a potential loss of more than 2,330 jobs and a £140m hit to the Scottish economy in the coming weeks."

"The scale of the challenge is massive and that’s why we need all politicians to support our campaign demands which focus on the condition of protecting jobs and the terms and conditions of workers associated with any company receiving government support."

"We also need strong support from politicians and the public to ensure that any civil aviation company like British Airways and Menzies Aviation stop and reverse the brutal attacks on jobs and the terms and conditions of the workforce under ‘fire and re-hire’ practices which could potentially affect take home pay we believe by up to 45 per cent."