Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘The future is bleak’: Unite leaders urge HIAL and Scottish Government ministers to continue talks as airport workers strike over pay

Unite Union leaders are warning island flights, including those departing from Stornoway Airport, could face months of disruption unless a successful pay deal is secured. Image: Sandy McCook/ DC Thomson.
Unite Union leaders are warning island flights, including those departing from Stornoway Airport, could face months of disruption unless a successful pay deal is secured. Image: Sandy McCook/ DC Thomson.

Union leaders are warning island flights could face disruption for months amid walkouts over pay.

Arrivals and departures from all 11 Highlands and Islands Airports (HIAL) will be thrown into a state of chaos over the next three days as Unite union members go on strike.

Passengers travelling from Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Inverness, Islay, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Sumburgh, Tiree and Wick will bear the brunt of the disruption.

Check-in staff, baggage handlers, ground crew, security workers and fire crews will down tools for 72 hours, starting today, as they demand improvements from HIAL on the 5% pay offer.

Shauna Wright, industrial officer with Unite union urged officials to get back round the table for talks to end strike action. Image: Kath Flannery / DC Thomson.

Shauna Wright, industrial officer with Unite union admitted the strikes will have a “huge” impact on island communities but stressed they have been “left with no alternative.”

Speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland (GMS), she said: “We’re dealing with the complexities of this organisation and in itself, it brings its own difficulties but I do have to stress our members are being double hit by this because this started over 10 months ago. This is an ongoing dispute since April last year.

“It is a disgrace that the Scottish Government and HIAL haven’t brought this dispute to an end. It is within their gift to give and I would urge every member of the public affected by this to remember that our members are affected by this.

“It’s their families and it’s their friends that don’t get to hospital appointments, that don’t get the mail.”

Union leaders eager for meaningful talks to resume

Unite is calling on bosses to improve their 5% pay offer as well as increases in pensions and island allowances to be considered.

Ms Wright slammed HIAL for investing £9million in their Remote Towers project, which has since been shelved, stressing those funds could have been put to better use.

She is urging Scottish government ministers and airport executives to continue talks in the hope of reaching a resolution and preventing further action.

Flights from Barra Airport are at risk of disruption until Thursday as airport workers hold three days of strike action over pay. Image: James Fraser/Shutterstock

She added: “HIAL spent roughly £9million last year on remote towers. These remote towers, they found that they wouldn’t work but all that money is gone. There is a building lying empty in Inverness.

“Surely these funds should have been directed to their best assets, i.e., their staff last year. This pay deal comes every year, they know that it’s coming. They should have set aside enough funds to support their biggest assets.

“It will stretch for weeks or months because sadly we are only a couple of weeks away from going into this year’s pay round so the future is bleak if HIAL don’t, with the Scottish Government, come back around the table.”

Conversation