Geneva airport workers threaten end of June strike action
The public service union SSP announced on Thursday that employees of Geneva international airport, Switzerland’s second-largest, will undertake industrial action that would disrupt air traffic, if their demands are not met.
At stake is the new compensation policy promoted by the airport’s management.
According to the SSP union, the new policy seeks to eliminate employee bonuses, and allows the demotion of workers based on their behaviour.
If these changes are approved by the board, employees would go on strike at noon in protest, and the airport would experience a total shutdown of operations, the union sai.
It added that it already informed major airlines of the plan, so they can “divert their aircraft to other destinations.”
A strike would completely paralyse the airport, through which tens of thousands of passengers travel each day, as services such as baggage handling and security checks would have to be ceased.
As a result, all planes will have to be grounded.
“We must ensure that our movement has the greatest possible impact,” said the SSP’s spokesperson, Jamshid Pouranpir.
If the action does take place — which may not become clear until the morning of June 29th when the board of directors of Geneva’s airport is scheduled to convene for the general assembly, more than 300 employees will walk out.
For its part, the airport management confirms that no agreement with the union has been reached yet, and that it is "preparing for a possible strike, by now developing the necessary measures to reduce the impacts for passengers,” though no details have been released to date.
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At stake is the new compensation policy promoted by the airport’s management.
According to the SSP union, the new policy seeks to eliminate employee bonuses, and allows the demotion of workers based on their behaviour.
If these changes are approved by the board, employees would go on strike at noon in protest, and the airport would experience a total shutdown of operations, the union sai.
It added that it already informed major airlines of the plan, so they can “divert their aircraft to other destinations.”
A strike would completely paralyse the airport, through which tens of thousands of passengers travel each day, as services such as baggage handling and security checks would have to be ceased.
As a result, all planes will have to be grounded.
“We must ensure that our movement has the greatest possible impact,” said the SSP’s spokesperson, Jamshid Pouranpir.
If the action does take place — which may not become clear until the morning of June 29th when the board of directors of Geneva’s airport is scheduled to convene for the general assembly, more than 300 employees will walk out.
For its part, the airport management confirms that no agreement with the union has been reached yet, and that it is "preparing for a possible strike, by now developing the necessary measures to reduce the impacts for passengers,” though no details have been released to date.
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