Dispute closes Guernsey Airport
Tuesday 26th May 2009, 2:59PM BST.
A firefighter padlocks the gate as the industrial dispute begins. Picture by Adrian Miller
JERSEY travellers suffered severe disruption today after Guernsey Airport was forced to close following a long-running industrial dispute with firefighters.
The Airport crew walked out yesterday afternoon following a breakdown in negotiations over pay and conditions between union officials and the Guernsey States Public Services Department.
All morning and early afternoon flights from Jersey to Guernsey today were cancelled or delayed indefinitely, and it was expected that all 22 flights to the island would be grounded. All flights from Guernsey were also expected to be cancelled, but all other services from Jersey Airport were operating as normal.
In a statement on the Guernsey Airport Information Line, a spokesman said: ‘Guernsey Airport regrets to report that fire cover has been reduced to category zero today following a breakdown in further negotiations between Airport firefighters held yesterday afternoon. Current indications are that fire cover will not be established immediately which will have an impact on all flights operating to and from the Airport.’
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And I thought Jersey was bad !!!
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I bet this gets resolved sharpish. When workers can apply pressure to hurt the state normally their wishes are granted pretty quickly.
I wonder if the Jersey Airport fireservice are taking notes on this dispute? It wouldn’t surprise me if they used this method if they too hit a brick wall over negotiations.
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Fair play to Aurigny who have pulled out all stops to maintain a decent service to passengers on routes that have been affected by the knock-on effect of all this.
Friends arriving on an Aurigny flight from Stansted today delayed by only 45 minutes because their incoming flight diverted to Southampton to allow a passenger to catch an ongoing flight due to the disruption.
Well done Aurigny.
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Striking may be a last resort necessity, but today I have realised the devasating effect it can have on members of the public, as I have seen family desperately trying to get to their father’s funeral by any other means after finding out at the last moment that their flight was cancelled. Unfortunately, they will not be there in time, and are distraught.
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I was meant to fly back to Guernsey on Monday evening and eventually got back on an extremely rough ferry crossing. At the start of the weekend, I supported the firemen’s claims. Now I hope they’re all eventually sacked and replaced; that’s what wild cat strikes do for your public relations!
When you’re stuck at the airport, there isn’t an awful lot to do. However, I was interested to read that it only takes an airport firemen about three weeks to be sufficiently trained to be ‘legal.’ Considering how little training they’re expected to do as a minimum, they are probably overpaid, especially when you consider how much less someone in ‘finance’ gets paid if they only have three weeks training under their belt.
The firemen also need to understand employment law. Just ‘downing tools’ without an announcement clearly indicates that there was no ballot when the strike began; after all, several union members were not at the airport at that time as it was not their shift. That means they’re liable for the costs of travellers stranded on Monday evening and believe me I shall be suing their union for my economic loss and encouraging others to do likewise.
The fact is, they’re virtually unskilled workers. Plenty of people far more qualified than them earn less in poorer conditions, such as junior nurses.
The airport authority needs to get its act together too but not by appeasing the firefighters. What we need is to send other airport staff and willing volunteers on the three week course to create an amateur backup crew.
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Shame on them
If they don’t think the pays enough for the job, go get another job, don’t take it out on the public who may be going on their well deserved annual holidays.
All the airport firemen I have ever spoken to say the biggest problem with the job is boredom, I suppose this breaks the monotony for them.
Adrian, its not the authorities who are the victims here, its the ordinary people who you usually support.
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PJG I blame the authorities for falling to take negiotations seriously enough. I have never known anyone anywhere go on strike just for the fun of it. Strikes are usually a last resort. How come they are at the last resort?
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Must have been a shortage of carrots that caused the problem!
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Andrew,
“believe me I shall be suing their union for my economic loss and encouraging others to do likewise.”
Perhaps as a reward for our belief in your intention you will let us know at some time how you got on!
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Adrian
I hear what you say, but it takes 2 to have a dispute. The firemen were not locked out, it was there decision to become petulant and withdraw their labour and cause the disruption, There is always room for more discussion.
Or do you think the suffering of the general travellers was acceptable collateral damage in your fight against evil profiteering employers ?
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Privatise the fire cover at the airport, huge penalties for no cover, problem solved!
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PJG there is always room for more discussion. However when employers don’t move, even when they can then you get problems. I would image these people were probably only asking to maintain their wages i.e. asking for inflation to be covered in their wages. What is wrong with that?
Normally employers have the whip hand and can do what they want, and get away with it. Here is a prime example when upsetting your workers rebounds in your face.
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Adrian please answer the question.
“do you think the suffering of the general travellers was acceptable collateral damage “?
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PJG Yes I agree people should not be put out but who caused the problems here? This is the issue. Unfortunately if the workers felt so that they had no option but to resort to a strike it just shows how badly run they are as far as I am concerned.
Who is repsonsible? The management they should have managed this a lot better. Therefore in my opinion blame the management!
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