From 23m agoKey events2m agoGatwick airport workers to strike amid pay dispute23m agoDoctors being ‘unreasonable’ and should accept 6% pay offer – cabinet ministerFilters BETAKey events (2)Gillian Keegan (3)2m ago04.45 EDTGatwick airport workers to strike amid pay dispute
Almost 1,000 workers at Gatwick Airport, including baggage handlers and check-in staff, are to strike in a dispute over pay.
Members of Unite employed by four private contractors will walk out for four days from 28 July and again for four days from 4 August, PA reported.
The union said the action will “inevitably” cause disruption to flights at the height of the summer holiday season.
Those involved in the dispute are employed by ASC, Menzies Aviation, GGS and DHL Services, which conduct outsourced operations for airlines including ground handling, baggage handling, ramp agent, dispatchers, and check-in.
Unite said it has been in negotiations with the four companies since January but claimed they have failed to make offers that meets the workers’ expectations.
The union’s general secretary Sharon Graham said:
Our members at Gatwick airport undertake incredibly demanding roles and are essential to keeping the airport and airlines working, yet their employers somehow think it is acceptable to pay them a pittance.
As part of Unite’s unyielding focus on the jobs, pay and condition of its members, the union has drawn a line in the sand and is committed to eradicating the scourge of low pay at the airport.
12m ago04.35 EDT
Pupil absences are at “crisis” level, the education secretary has said, as she endorsed headteachers driving children to school if necessary.
Gillian Keegan told Sky News that headteachers had a “duty” to get children to school.
Figures released earlier this year showed that about 125,000 pupils last year were severely absent, effectively meaning they were absent more often than they were in classrooms, PA Media reported.
Keegan, who rejected the suggestion that the government did not have a grip on the problem, was asked about examples of headteachers driving to children’s homes to pick them up and bring them to school.
“They have a duty,” she said. “We all have to play our part.
“I have a number of headteachers who work with me on policy and sometimes you just have to do that – sometimes you have to go or you have to text the parent in the morning … you do whatever is possible.”
Pressed on whether that was a good use of headteachers’ time, Keegan said:
It is a good use to have all kids in school.
That’s not what we want headteachers doing all of their days. But to be honest, right now, if that works to get somebody in school, it’s worth it.
20m ago04.27 EDT
Education secretary Gillian Keegan also said this morning that the government would honour the 6.5% pay rise offered to teachers into the long term.
She told Times Radio that the process of ensuring the pay cost could be covered and paid for without affecting frontline…
2023-07-14 03:29:13
Post from www.theguardian.com
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