Save Scotland’s airports campaign as 1,500 jobs at risk

A campaign to protect jobs linked to Scottish airports has been launched by the trade union Unite Scotland.

It has warned that 1,500 workers are at risk of redundancy from airlines and other companies operating at Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow airports.

Scottish airport workers are disproportionately affected by planned job losses, the union has argued, while some face their earnings being cut by up to 45 per cent by airlines firing and rehiring staff on poorer pay and conditions.

The campaign is demanding the furlough scheme for the industry is extended beyond the UK government’s end date of 31 October, as well as an end to the “fire and rehire” proposals.

It also wants any government support, investment or tax relief to come with conditions to protect jobs, wages and terms of employment, in line with the Scottish Government’s fair work principles.

Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty said: “The launch of the Save Scotland’s Airports campaign is vitally important in concentrating the minds of the Scottish and UK governments on the immense pressure the civil aviation industry is under. The scale of the challenge is massive.”

The campaign follows a warning from the union that the aerospace engineering and civil aviation industries in Scotland “could both be on the brink of terminal decline” without additional support.