Strike stalemate as ministers stay away

All flights to and from Stornoway look set to be cancelled for two days next week, with Barra and Benbecula affected on Friday.

Island air services face another wave of cancellations next week as stalemate continues in the industrial dispute over pay involving employees of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited.

The refusal of Ministers, who are preventing HIAL going beyond a five per cent pay offer, to become involved was described by one union leader as “extremely frustrating”.

Stornoway is likely to close on Wednesday and Thursday next week with all flights cancelled while Benbecula and Barra will be in the same position on Friday.

As we went to press on Wednesday, Loganair was still accepting on-line bookings for these flights, in the hope that the situation might change, but the airline was also allowing passengers who have booked to alter their dates without charge, within a limited period.

There has been a meeting between HIAL management and unions but failed to make progress. Jane Rose, negotiations officer with Prospect, said a one-off consolidated payment was put on the table but it came nowhere near meeting expectations.

Ms Rose said it was “extremely frustrating” that the Scottish Government would not become directly involved as it was clear that HIAL could not move without the approval of Ministers. She said: “It would not take a lot to resolve this but it is entirely in the hands of the Scottish Government”.

In addition to next week’s action, Prospect are set to introduce a work to rule from March 18th. HIAL said this week: “This will include withdrawal of good will; work to rosters; an overtime ban; refusal of non-ambulance extensions or special openings and will cause additional disruption”.

Regarding the recent meeting, HIAL confirmed that they had met with Prospect, Unite and PCS representatives and “presented an enhanced proposal which comprised a tiered one-off non-consolidated payment on top of the percentage increase we offered before Christmas.

“The three trade unions carefully considered the proposal, but unfortunately notified us that the proposal will not be sufficient to resolve the dispute”.

The HIAL dispute was raised in the Scottish Parliament by the LibDem MSP for Shetland, Beatrice Wishart, who referred to the disruption of hospital appointments and delays to treatment at mainland hospitals which her constituents are enduring.

Ms Wishart continued: “Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd is wholly owned by Scottish ministers, so what is the First Minister going to do to secure a resolution and end the disruption?”

Ms Sturgeon replied that “health boards will be working to ensure that any delays are minimised” She added: “Secondly, there is on-going dialogue to resolve the underlying issue, and I would expect HIAL to do everything possible to reach a resolution”.

The Transport Scotland press office has contacted the Gazette to state that the Minister, Jenny Gilruth, has met the HIAL unions – on 27th October last year. However, the industrial action has been on-gong since then and HIAL continue to say they have no flexibility to increase their offer.