A two-day strike will hit Gatwick this weekend with up to 600 staff at Servisair, which provides baggage handling at the airport, set to walk out.
The Transport & General Workers Union (T&G), which represents the strikers, said Servisair had been running a campaign of misinformation against a leading union representative and also imposing unreasonable working practices on baggage handlers.
Ian McCoulough, regional industrial organiser for the T&G, said origin of the dispute was over changed working practices which went back to February this year.
“The fact that it takes three managers to do the work of one baggage handler on strike days makes our point eloquently – that the imposed new working practices put unreasonable pressure on our members,” he said.
“We have always maintained this and have stressed that our members are unafraid of hard work. But it is heavy physical work that requires proper, quality rest times to be sustainable.”
Servisair said contingency plans were in place and that it would minimise any potential disruption, with customers being informed of on-going developments.
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Cargo clerical and passenger services at Gatwick, along with all other Servisair operations will remain unaffected, the company said.
The strike will start at 00.01 on Saturday 23 October. It will end at 24.00 on Sunday 24 October.
