Catering workers at Bristol airport to be balloted for industrial action

Strikes will potentially being scheduled over the Christmas period

Author: Henry WinterPublished 7th Nov 2024

Passengers at Bristol airport are facing the prospect of having no onboard food or drink during long and short haul flights as dnata catering workers ballot for strike action

More than 700 dnata workers providing food for airlines at Heathrow, Gatwick, Glasgow, London City, Stansted, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham airports are balloting for strike action. The production line, warehouse and delivery workers are angry at the company’s attempts to change their terms and conditions without consultation.

If strikes go ahead, major airlines, including easyJet, Ryanair, TUI, BA, Emirates, America Airlines and Air India, will be impacted.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “dnata’s attempts to bypass its workers and force through damaging changes to terms and conditions will not be tolerated. Unite’s dnata members have their union’s full and unflinching support in fighting its underhand attempts to impose these plans.”

dnata is refusing to consult with Unite on plans that could detrimentally impact how rostering, variable working, annualised hours, seasonal working, absence management and annual leave allocations are carried out.

The industrial action ballot opened this week and will close on 5th December, with strikes potentially being scheduled over the Christmas period.

Unite national officer for aviation Balvinder Bir said: “Strikes would have a serious impact on major airlines at eight UK airports and will be entirely the fault of dnata. There is still time for industrial action to be avoided but that will require dnata entering into meaningful negotiations with Unite about the changes it is putting forward.”

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