PCS members at Civil Aviation Authority to strike for two days
The members voted for strike action after their employer imposed its pay offer.
PCS members at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are taking industrial action on 16 and 17 January after their employer imposed a pay offer of 4% for the lowest-earners, and 3% for other grades.
The CAA is the regulator for the aviation industry. It will be a first that PCS members there have taken industrial action.
The strike action will be followed by continuous action short of a strike (a work to rule with no overtime) with further strike action if required.
PCS members in the CAA have seen their wages stagnate due to below inflation pay increases over several years. When comparing the pay of the CAA against the aviation industry they fall well short as their pay awards have previously been linked to the civil service pay remit.
A PCS member at the CAA said: “We are taking strike action as a last resort to try and combat the growing void between what the business expects of its workers, and how it treats those same workers. For over a decade, the business has gradually worn away at real time salaries, making employees’ roles worth much less than this time a decade ago. This makes it more difficult to retain staff, and to recruit new staff. Benefits have been cut, and a lack of proper internal governance has created an environment of disparity across the organisation, which there seems very little intention to rectify, stoking division and mistrust.
“The CAA highlights every year, a lack of money and cuts needing to be made, against a backdrop of a record-breaking, growing industry. Rather than regulate the aviation sector, the CAA seems intent to subsidise it, to the detriment of its own workforce.”
Show your support
There will be a picket line outside Aviation House, near Gatwick airport: Aviation House, South Area, Gatwick RH6 0YR on each day of the strike action from 8am to 10:15am.