{"id":16094,"date":"2012-10-06T13:13:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-06T12:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=16094"},"modified":"2012-10-06T13:13:46","modified_gmt":"2012-10-06T12:13:46","slug":"workers-threatened-with-sack-if-they-fight-for-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/latest-news\/workers-threatened-with-sack-if-they-fight-for-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"Workers threatened with sack if they fight for pay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jon Griffin, Birmingham Mail<\/a> |<\/p>\n

WORKERS at Birmingham Airport deprived of a wage rise for more than three years have been threatened with job cuts\u00a0if they take industrial action, it has been claimed.<\/p>\n

Union leaders said airport management had sent a letter to staff threatening to withdraw a pay offer of two and a half per cent \u2014 plus a one-off payment of \u00a3150 \u2014 and impose reductions in the workforce.<\/p>\n

But the tactic was condemned by angry unions who delayed holding a ballot for action after mediators ACAS were called in.<\/p>\n

Workers had already voted by 76.5 per cent to reject the pay offer \u2014 the first since February 2009 \u2014 and unions had announced a ballot for action.<\/p>\n

Unite union regional organiser John Partridge said: \u201cThe airport has said that if we proceed with industrial action it could lead to the offer being withdrawn and job losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is disappointing they have found it necessary to put out a letter like that, especially as we have been trying to negotiate a wage settlement since May, when we first met.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have not had a pay increase since February 2009. The airport is doing very well and it is counter-productive to threaten job losses, calculated to undermine the morale of the workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

An airport spokesman said bosses were simply trying to ensure \u201cclarity\u201d over its position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to keep all staff informed of this situation so they understand the offer made and impact that any industrial action would have on the business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe regularly have open dialogue with staff on business matters and want to make sure that the entire workforce \u2014 not just union members \u2014 are clear about this particular issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe airport seeks to make sure everyone understands the offer that has been put forward; we would have thought the union would welcome the greatest degree of clarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the pay issue can be resolved and that the silent majority do not want industrial action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe offer is fair and reasonable and means that, for the majority of staff, a three per cent increase would be made if the offer is accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jon Griffin, Birmingham Mail | WORKERS at Birmingham Airport deprived of a wage rise for more than three years have been threatened with job cuts\u00a0if they take industrial action, it has been claimed. Union leaders said airport management had sent a letter to staff threatening to withdraw a pay offer of two and a half […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1615],"tags":[55],"class_list":{"0":"post-16094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-latest-news","7":"category-uk-news","8":"tag-uk-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}