More than 100 OCS Group-employed passenger assistants at Edinburgh Airport will walk out in September for a series of 48-hour strikes after rejecting a wage offer of £12.60 per hour, which workers and union leaders have labelled a “poverty pay offer”.
Strikes are slated for September 3–4, 7–8, 11–12, 14–15, 18–19, 21–22, and 25–26, amid warnings of serious disruption for mobility-impaired passengers using airport assistance services.
Unite the Union, representing the striking staff, noted the offer amounts only to the bare minimum of the Scottish living wage and fails to properly value their essential work.
Industrial officer Carrie Binnie said: “OCS workers are vital to assisting passengers with mobility issues at Edinburgh airport. The company’s management should be valuing and rewarding the workers – instead it has tabled an insulting poverty pay offer. OCS has a matter of days to resolve this dispute before strike action starts, which will be entirely its fault.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham added, “Unite’s OCS membership have had enough and they are fully prepared to fight back through strike action to secure fair pay. We will back our members all the way in their fight for better jobs, pay, and conditions at Edinburgh airport.
Impact on Passengers and Airport Operations
The strikes, involving staff crucial to accessible travel at Scotland’s busiest airport, are expected to cause longer wait times for wheelchair assistance, boarding, and disembarkation services.
Flight schedules may be affected, though the industrial action targets airport support services rather than airline operations.
Airlines remain responsible for looking after passengers but compensation for delays due to these strikes is not covered under EC Regulation 261/2004.
