The Unite union has warned that flights from Edinburgh Airport could be grounded over festive season because of a pay dispute involving tanker drivers working for North Air.
The union says workers who fuel domestic and international flights for airlines including Loganair, Emirates and United “are on the verge of taking strike action” over Christmas and New Year.
Union members backed strike action after rejecting a 4.5 per cent pay offer by the company, following what they say are years of below-inflation pay increases.
Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, said: “North Air is a profitable company and there is no excuse for not making an improved pay offer to our tanker drivers.”
The union says that, despite recent talks having been held at the conciliation service Acas, there has been no enhanced pay offer.
Unite’s industrial officer, Carrie Binnie, said: “If strike action happens, which would cause widespread disruption over the festive season, then it’s on North Air’s heads. They are choosing to escalate this dispute, rather than choosing to resolve it which they could do easily. Unless the company quickly comes to its senses, we will have no option but to issue strike dates in the coming days.”
Edinburgh Airport declined to comment, saying it is a matter for North Air. The Independent has sought a response from North Air.
In many cases such disputes are solved before any industrial action begins, or have little effect due to management being brought in to perform the tasks of workers.
Were flights to be disrupted, passengers flying from Edinburgh would be protected by air passengers’ rights rules – which require any airline cancelling a trip to rebook travellers as soon as possible.
But at times of high demand, including Christmas and New Year, spare seats are scarce. In addition, travellers flying to Edinburgh and other UK airports from outside Europe on non-European airlines are not covered by the regulations.
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