Workers at Aberdeen and Glasgow airports will strike on 7 and 10 June following a dispute with AGS over the closure of the defined benefit pension scheme.

In April, strike action was supported by a majority of 88.3 per cent on a 79.5 per cent turnout, after a 60-day consultation on the closing of the scheme, due to shut on 14 April, was extended to accommodate further discussions.

However, AGS Airports Limited, the group which also owns Glasgow and Southampton airports, closed the discussions on 20 May following a failure to maintain the pension scheme based on the 2016 Acas agreement.

Unite regional officer, Shauna Wright, said: “Unite members at Aberdeen Airport will join those at Glasgow Airport taking industrial action to fight against this coordinated attack by AGS on our members’ pension scheme.

“We have repeatedly warned AGS that if it does not keep to the agreements made with us then industrial action would be inevitable. Let’s not forget that this attack comes despite Aberdeen Airport having enjoyed a near doubling of profits.”

Wright added that further dates will be organised if the dispute isn’t settled.

According to Unite, Aberdeen Airport increased its after tax profits from £10.7m in 2016 to £19.1m in 2017.

An AGS Airport spokesperson said: “We are extremely disappointed that the trade unions have served notice of industrial action. We have been in talks since January and, despite attending Acas, there has been no willingness whatsoever on the part of the unions to engage in a constructive negotiation.

“We made a significant improvement on our initial pay offer which was increased from 1.8 per cent to 3 per cent in line with their demands. This was rejected by the trade unions without further consulting their members. In regards to our final salary pension scheme, it is simply unaffordable with the cost to the company due to rise to 24.7 per cent per employee.

“As always, we remain open to continuing dialogue, however, we will now put our robust contingency plans in place to ensure it will be business as usual."

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