Security staff will be on equal footing

Prospect members working in Scottish airport group HIAL’s security company AMSL have voted to accept a management offer to harmonise their terms and conditions over the next 20 months following a six year battle for equality.

Members voted 95% in favour of the offer on a turnout of 74%. The union represents more than 120 of AMSL’s 160 workers covering 11 Scottish airports.

The offer was made by HIAL, owned by the Scottish government, after industrial action consisting of a work to rule and a 48-hour strike in April.

Prospect national secretary Alan Denney said he was “delighted” that the dispute had finally been settled meaning that Prospect members “will in future be on an equal footing with their colleagues in the wider HIAL group”.

In the six years since HIAL brought security in-house, management had failed to agree equal terms for basic pay, shift pay, sick pay, overtime, weekend premium payments, and holidays for AMSL’s airport security workers. A stark example of this inequality was in sick pay, where AMSL members received just five half days per year, in contrast to six months’ full pay for the staff who managed them and others working for the HIAL group.

https://www.prospect.org.uk/news/id/2015/May/5/Scottish-airport-workers-accept-offer-settle-dispute-over-unequal-treatment