Baggage handlers at three airports vote for Christmas strikes in pay dispute with AeroServe

Baggage handlers and ground crew at Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh airports have voted to strike over the Christmas period after rejecting a 3.2% pay offer from AeroServe, the ground handling company that loads aircraft for about 20 airlines at the three sites.

Unite said on Friday that 84% of the 1,800 members balloted had backed action on a turnout of 71%, comfortably above the legal threshold. The union is seeking a rise of 7% and the restoration of a winter shift allowance that was removed in 2021. It said strike dates would be announced next week and would be chosen “to have the maximum effect”, which in practice means the days immediately before and after Christmas.

AeroServe, which is owned by a Spanish infrastructure group, handles baggage, aircraft towing and de-icing for a range of short-haul and charter carriers. A strike would not ground every flight at the three airports, but airlines that use the company would be unable to load or unload bags, and in winter the loss of de-icing crews can shut a runway to departures for hours.

“Our members did not take this decision lightly,” said Gary Threlfall, Unite’s regional officer for aviation in the north-west. “They are loading bags in sub-zero temperatures at 4am for £12.90 an hour, which is 70p above the legal minimum, for a company that reported £46m of profit last year. A 3.2% offer when their rent has gone up 9% is not a serious proposal.”

AeroServe said the offer was “fair and in line with the rest of the industry” and that it had also proposed a one-off £500 payment. Its UK managing director, Stephen Boyle, said the company would “do everything possible” to maintain services and had begun talks with airlines about contingency arrangements, which are understood to include bringing in managers from other sites and asking airlines to encourage passengers to travel with hand luggage only.

The dispute comes as the aviation industry heads into a Christmas that airlines expect to be the busiest since 2019, with about 11 million passengers due to pass through UK airports in the two weeks around the holiday. Manchester, the largest of the three affected airports, handles about 65,000 passengers a day in late December.

Airlines were careful not to take sides. One carrier that uses AeroServe at all three airports said it was “monitoring the situation” and urged both parties back to the table. The airport operators said they were not party to the dispute. The conciliation service Acas said it had offered to host talks and that both sides had accepted in principle.

Mr Threlfall said the union would call off the action if a “meaningful” improved offer was made before dates were set. “Nobody wants to be on a picket line on Christmas Eve,” he said. “But nobody wants to be on the apron for less than it costs to live, either.”