Gatwick Airport workers to vote over strike action in pay dispute
Union calls on Gatwick to 'become the first UK airport to be a genuine living wage employer'
GATWICK Airport workers, employed to help disabled passengers, are to be balloted for strike action in pay dispute.
Unite said the majority of its members employed in the role are paid £7.65 an hour, which it described as "poverty pay".
The union said members were being forced into industrial action because employer the OCS Group UK is offering a rise of 5p an hour from April 2017.
Three separate pay offers have been rejected with workers voting by more than 90 per cent against the offer on each occasion.
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Unite regional officer, Jamie Major, said: “OCS doesn’t seem serious about settling this dispute.
"At the last meeting management gave four separate options, none of which represented an improved offer in real terms. OCS was simply manipulating figures to rob better paid staff to fund workers on poverty pay. This was smoke and mirrors not meaningful negotiations.
“It is entirely unacceptable that OCS think it can get away with paying poverty pay to dedicated workers committed to assisting disabled and reduced mobility passengers.
"Unite will not allow our members to be treated with casual contempt.
“Unite is lobbying Gatwick Airport to take the moral high ground and become the first UK airport to become a genuine living wage employer and pay the real living wage.”
The result of the ballot is expected on March 9.
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