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 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.
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.”
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