Union Unite Warn Of Trouble Ahead In Aviation Sector

The union responsible for the UK's aviation industry, Unite has issued a warning that jobs in the aviation industry may be at risk after redundancy consultations with airlines were made. The union has said that the aviation industry was indicating the current problems by raising the subject of cutbacks.

The union has been in talks with Flyglobespan, First Choice, XL Airways and Virgin, with the latter entering into discussions after a decision was made to cease an in-flight beauty service, which has been predicted to have cost 320 jobs. All employees that will be affected by this will be offered jobs either as cabin crew or beauty therapists on the ground, so it is not all bad news for these employees.

Some of the reasons cited for the problems are the brand new 'open skies' agreement as well as rising fuel costs and aircraft tax. The national officer of Unite, Brian Boyd also said that the plans by the government to replace air passenger duty with plane tax will add to the problems already being experienced by increasing pressure on the UK aviation sector.

The union Unite has 70,000 members within the aviation sector, with 24,000 of these being cabin crew.

Published by: Jon Vickery