Cityjet services are set to be disrupted later this week, with Unite union members of its cabin crew voting in favour of strike action over proposed pay cuts.
In a statement Unite said that “Business flyers using London’s City airport face severe disruption when award winning cabin crew working for CityJet strike for five days, starting on Thursday October 20, in a dispute over proposed pay cuts of up to 50 per cent”.
Cityjet, however disagrees with this, stating that there will be “no disruption to its services at London City Airport arising from threatened industrial action by a minority of its London-based cabin crew who are members of the Unite trade union”.
According to Unite a total of 36 crew voted by 84 per cent in favour of strike action “on an array of issues including roster agreements, pay and allowances”.
The five days of discontinuous strike action are due to take place from 0500 on October 20 until 2359 on October 21, and again from 0500 on October 24, until 2200 on October 26.
Unite said that a major factor of the strike action is “the loss of overnight allowances in Amsterdam once the airline opens a base in the Dutch city, along with the impact of lost income from the reduction in flights”.
Unite regional officer Jo Jaques said: “Our award winning cabin crew members are on modest incomes and they rely on the allowances to boost their wages.
“The strike will cause severe disruption to the mainly business travellers who use London’s City airport.
“The fact that Unite members in Dublin have also been forced to take industrial action because of the company’s refusal to go to the Irish Labour Court indicates a worrying pattern of behaviour by CityJet.
“It is our view that the company is not taking its employees’ position seriously. We call on CityJet to come up with serious proposals to address the members’ concerns and recognise that the hardworking cabin crew have to live near City airport to get to work on time.
“The management needs to recognise that London is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in.”
Unite added that the cabin crew strike action “coincides with limited industrial action being taken by CityJet pilots represented by Unite in Dublin, where the company has refused to refer issues in dispute to the Irish Labour Court, contrary to an agreement between CityJet and the union”.
In its own statement Cityjet said that:
“Some members of our cabin crew based at London City Airport have threatened strike action later this week. We have taken measures to ensure that such action, if it occurs, will not impact on our services and customers can be assured our flights will continue to operate as normal.”
“We have been involved in protracted and ongoing discussions with representatives of our cabin crew based at London City Airport for some time. We have made ourselves available for conciliation and arbitration processes provided under industrial relations procedures in the United Kingdom. We remain available to meet with those members of cabin crew who have threatened industrial action and are anxious to have outstanding matters resolved as soon as practicable.”
“All our services operating into and out of London City Airport will continue as normal.”
