Glasgow Airport set for busiest weekend of year as strikes continue
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More than 165,000 passengers are expected to travel through the airport this weekend as the school holidays in Scotland get underway.
Industrial action will affect the airport on Friday, 28 June from 9.30am to 1.30pm and Sunday, 30 June from 5pm to 9pm as Unite members protest the hub’s decision to close the final salary pension scheme.
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Hide AdAdditional staff have been brought in at peak times over the weekend to provide support and assurance for passengers as they prepare for check-in and security. The airport’s management insist it will be business as usual for travellers on both days.
The strike action comes following a 60-day consultation launched in January on the closure, which would break an Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) agreement made in 2016.
An initial pay offer of 1.8 per cent tabled earlier this year was described by Unite, which represents around 500 workers at Glasgow Airport, as a “real-terms pay cut”.
A total of 95 per cent of union members backed strike action on a turnout of 75 per cent.
Over the summer one million passengers will take to the skies from Glasgow, with the majority heading for popular sunshine hotspots such as Alicante, the Canary Islands, Crete, Florida, Mexico, Turkey, Portugal and the Balearics.
Mark Johnston, Glasgow Airport Managing Director, said: “There’s always a great atmosphere in terminal, particularly as the school term has come to an end and thousands of families arrive at the airport ahead of their holidays.
“This weekend is sure to be one of our busiest ever and we’ll have plenty of activities to help keep the children occupied.
He added: “Although some of our staff who are members of Unite have chosen our busiest period of the year to stage further industrial action, I wanted to take this opportunity to once again reassure our passengers that the strike days which have taken place to date have caused minor disruption, if any at all. Glasgow Airport remains open, fully operational and our number one priority is to ensure our passengers continue to get on their summer holidays without any disruption.”