EASTER travel chaos has begun, as Gatwick airport faces strikes and hundreds of flights are affected.
Over 100 Red Handling staff members are striking over unpaid , late payments and “illegal”; shift patterns.
The strike, organised by will affect baggage handlers, check-in agents and flight dispatchers working with airlines such as Norwegian, Delta, TAP and Air Peace.
Around 50 flights a day will be disrupted, it is believed.
Members of the Unite union working for ground handling firm Red Handling rejected a last-minute deal to call off the on Wednesday.
Now, hoping to jet off from the will be affected.
The will take place from Good Friday, April 18 and continue until the early hours of Tuesday, April 22.
But the reasons for such strikes are grave.
Workers revealed their pensions have been deducted from their wages, which have then gone missing.
Meanwhile others say they are being paid up to two weeks late.
Some employees claimed they have not had set up for them at all.
While airport staff protested they are unable to take breaks when there are issues, such as delayedflightsor emergency landings,Uniteregional officer David Taylor told the Standard.
As a result of new working patterns, some workers are not getting 11 hours between their shifts, the legal requirement between working days, or lunch and afternoon breaks.
Unite also claims Red Handling has routinely paid employees late, not agreed to contractual late payment reimbursement and has insufficient working patterns.
Mr Taylor explained the dispute has been ongoing for more than a year, and Unite members believe their employer’s “promises are broken every time”;.
He added: “ says it expects the to be its busiest period of the year so far, so there is no doubt that industrial action over the long weekend will be extremely disruptive for travellers – however, this is a dispute entirely of Red Handling's own making.”
In response to the workers' claims, a Red Handling spokesperson said: “Our shift patterns are fully compliant with UK law, with adequate breaks and downtime provided for staff.
“We take payroll very seriously and do everything we can to ensure that all employees are paid accurately and on time.”
The company added that non-traditional caused some delayed payments. Along with a “complex pensions scenario”;.
However, the Red Handling spokesperson said the company is aiming to resolve all delayed payments by May 10.
A Gatwick spokesperson added:“We are aware of the recent ballot results and the planned industrial action by Red Handling, which will impact thousands of passengers during one of our busiest times of year.
“We are supporting the airlines impacted, who hold the contracts directly with Red Handling, with their contingency plans and are hopeful a resolution can be reached ahead of the proposed industrial action.
“Passengers are advised to contact their airlines directly for latest information.”;
