Gatwick airside bus drivers mull strike action
Gatwick Airport is facing the threat of strike action by drivers of its airside buses.
Unite the union says a strike could begin by the end of February if its members vote to go ahead.
Drivers have begun voting for strike action this week after their employer, Omni Serve, offered a zero per cent pay increase.
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The ballot will close on February 6.
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Unite said workers have not received a pay increase for over three years.
It said after long negotiations, an offer was finally made just before Christmas of a zero per cent pay rise for 2017 and a below inflation increase of 2 per cent for 2018.
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Unite regional officer Jamie Major said: "Managers at Omni Serve are presiding over a pay shambles. Workers are at the end of their tethers and have seen their wages cut in real terms year on year.
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"Our members provide a key role at Gatwick airport and if they take strike action passengers face severe delays and flights could be cancelled.
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"Since Unite issued the notice to ballot, workers have been flocking to join the union. Omni Serve has totally misunderstood workers’ anger over the way they are being treated.
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"If Omni Serve seriously wants to avoid customer misery the company needs to return to the negotiating table and make a reasonable pay offer to our members."
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Last year, strike action was narrowly averted on a separate Omni Serve contract at Gatwick involving baggage operators for Norwegian.
Dubbed ‘bucks not burgers’ after staff were invited to a company barbecue, the row was settled after Omni Serve made a last-minute pay offer.
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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