Prospect has started the process of taking claims to an employment tribunal on behalf of members at Prestwick Air Maintenance Ltd who were dismissed for refusing to accept a 50% pay cut.

The first step is to file an early conciliation request with ACAS, the advisory, conciliation and arbitration service. This is a mandatory step before bringing a full employment tribunal claim.

PAML still has the option to enter into discussions to settle claims at any time. However, if it does not, Prospect will advance to employment tribunals, which is likely to take months. Prospect will continue to support members throughout the tribunal process.

Union recognition

Prospect has also submitted a voluntary recognition request to PAML; the mandatory waiting period will finish in the week ending 24 April.

At that point, if Prospect has not received a response, it will submit a formal recognition request to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) – again a lengthy process.

Prospect negotiator David Avery urged members who had not filled in the union’s recognition survey to do so as soon as possible.

“We need as many PAML staff as possible to fill it in to demonstrate to the CAC that the staff want collective bargaining.

“Information from the survey will only be used for recognition purposes and individual responses will in no circumstances be shared with the employer,” he added.

Prospect is keeping up the lobbying pressure on PAML. The STUC, the umbrella body for unions in Scotland, has written to the Scottish Government, copied to Prestwick airport, asking them to intercede both as Government and PAML’s landlord.

Avery also pointed out that BA has furloughed its heavy maintenance base at Glasgow as have the Ryanair facilities at Stansted and Edinburgh.

“PAML’s claims that the jobs are critical, or that the job protection scheme does not apply, have been shown to be untrue. I hope the company will reconsider its position and not enforce the imposed pay cut at the end of April.

“Instead we want them to follow the example of the rest of the industry and take up the assistance offer by government to furlough the workforce and stop putting staff at risk by asking them to work during a pandemic.

“If PAML does reduce members’ pay at the end of the month, we will provide advice to members about possible claims for unlawful deduction of wages,” he concluded.