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The National
30-07-2025
- Business
- The National
200 Edinburgh Airport workers balloted over strike action amid pay row
Around 200 passenger assistants employed by OCS Group at the Scottish capital airport could strike from early September, Unite the Union announced on Wednesday. Passenger assistants, who help travellers who have mobility issues and who are members of the union, 'overwhelmingly' rejected a £12.60 per hour wage offer. Unite members will be balloted between July 30 and August 19, with the Union saying industrial action could begin as soon as September. READ MORE: Westminster watchdog opens investigation into Reform UK's Nigel Farage Sharon Graham, Unite's general secretary, said the union would not tolerate low pay offers and that members at the airport have their full backing. 'Unite's members working for OCS based at Edinburgh airport deserve far more than what the company is offering, which is the lowest possible that they can get away with. 'Unite will not tolerate low pay and our members will have the full backing of their union in the fight for better jobs, pay, and conditions.' Carrie Binnie, Unite industrial officer, added that OCS workers contribute a 'vital' role at the Edinburgh Airport by helping to assist hundreds of passengers every week with mobility issues. 'For OCS to put the bare minimum on the table is unacceptable. The workers are essential to the airport, and they should be valued and rewarded properly,' she said. 'If our members are forced into strike action, it's because they won't accept poverty pay.' Edinburgh Airport said the dispute is between workers and the OCS Group. OCS Group has been contacted for comment.
Scotsman
30-07-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Passenger assistants at major Scottish airport to ballot over strike action
Potential strike action could take place from early September if the ballot is successful. Sign up for the latest news and analysis about Scottish transport Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Workers at a major Scottish airport are being balloted on strike action in an escalating dispute over pay. It has been revealed today that 200 OCS Group workers based at Edinburgh Airport will be balloted from Wednesday until August 19. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad OCS has tabled the lowest possible wage offer of £12.60 an hour to match the Scottish Living Wage minimum rate to the workers which they overwhelmingly rejected. Make sure you keep up to date with news from across Scotland by signing up to our free newsletter here. The OCS Group covers workers who aid passengers with reduced mobility issues including assisting with wheelchairs and ambilift vehicles for travellers at Edinburgh airport. It means potential strike action could take place from early September if the ballot is successful. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The ballot started on Wednesday. | Bloomberg via Getty Images Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 'Unite's members working for OCS based at Edinburgh airport deserve far more than what the company is offering which is the lowest possible that they can get away with. 'Unite will not tolerate low pay and our members will have the full backing of their union in the fight for better jobs, pay, and conditions.' Workers 'vital' to assisting hundreds of passengers every week Carrie Binnie, Unite industrial officer, said: 'OCS workers are vital to assisting hundreds of passengers every week with mobility issues at Edinburgh airport. 'For OCS to put the bare minimum on the table is unacceptable. 'The workers are essential to the airport, and they should be valued and rewarded properly.
Times
05-06-2025
- Business
- Times
Plea to Starmer over ‘devastating' cost of employment rights bill
Businesses keeping Britain's hospitals, train stations, airports, offices, warehouses and factories clean, maintained and secure have warned the prime minister of the 'devastating impact' of the government's employment rights bill. In an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, his deputy Angela Rayner and the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, the 128 companies — including the sector leaders OCS Group, Churchill Group and Mitie — urged the government to rethink its plans. The letter highlighted what its authors believe will be the 'serious unintended consequences' from the large-scale changes to employment law proposed by the legislation, which is passing through parliament. The reforms include making protection from unfair dismissal a right from the first day of employment, increased union representation and more generous sick pay, which has to be paid for by businesses. • Workers' bill 'won't work unless tribunal backlog is cleared' 'We are deeply concerned that some of the bill's provisions … could harm both good employers and the very employees that the bill seeks to protect,' the authors of the letter say. The additional costs or risks of hiring the wrong person for a role would 'force some employers to reduce staff headcount or reduce their hours, turn down new contracts, or even exit the market altogether,' they added. Dominic Ponniah, chief executive of the office and commercial cleaning company Cleanology and a co-author of the letter, said concerns had been building about the negative impact of the legislation for some months, but they had come to a head once facilities management firms had seen the impact on their operating costs of April's rise in employers' national insurance to 15 per cent. 'Suddenly people are feeling that on their bottom lines and we need to make our voice heard,' he said. The 128 signatories of the letter also include Josie Marshall-Deane, regional director of OCS Group, whose services include passenger screening, surveillance and emergency response at airports, and Charlotte Parr, executive director of Churchill Group, which is majority-owned by 10,000 of its employees and works to maintain social housing for housing associations, among other services. The facilities management industry overall employs 1.4 million people and generates £60 billion for the economy, making it many times more important for economic growth than other more favoured industries such as fashion and farming, the authors note. It is dominated by thousands of small and medium-sized companies, typically operating on tight profit margins. They said the changes to employment law 'risk penalising the good companies while doing little to deter the bad players'. The companies make clear their support for the government's efforts to tackle exploitative labour practices and establish fair treatment of agency workers. The government is phasing in the introduction of the new rights, which it has calculated could add £5 billion in costs to the economy each year. Smaller companies will be hit disproportionately, it acknowledges. It has said most of the new rules would not take effect until next year. A Government spokesperson said: 'Insecurity and poor health at work aren't just bad for workers, they also impact productivity and drive down competitiveness in businesses and the wider economy. 'That's why through our transformative plan for change, this government is delivering the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation, and our measures already have strong support amongst business and the public. 'We've consulted extensively with business on our proposals, and we will engage on the implementation of legislation to ensure it works for employers and puts money back into the pockets of working people.'
