Bournemouth Airport (BOH/EGHH) is facing a potential shutdown next month as members of the Unite union employed at the airport are balloted on strike action.
Almost 80 members of staff are members of Unite, including refuellers, baggage handlers, security staff, and check-in staff, all of whom have rejected a pay offer, which would have seen the lowest paid rise to £12.22 per hour.
Unite says that the pay offer ranged from 4.5% for the lowest-paid workers to 3% for the highest-paid.
As almost all aspects of ground handling is included in Unite’s membership, any strike action would effectively close the airport during the industrial action.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Bournemouth Airport is putting its own interests over those of the workers. We appreciate it is investing in its future, but members must not be left behind in the pursuit of that.
“Our hardworking members deserve a fair pay rise and Unite will back them every step of the way.”
The ballot is running until the 20th August and any resulting industrial action could start as soon as the first week of September, affecting the final week of the summer holidays.
Bournemouth Airport is one of the UK’s growing regional airports with easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair and TUI all operating flights from there. The airport is expected to handle almost a million passengers this year, reaching passenger numbers it hasn’t seen since 2006.
Discover more from UK Aviation News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
