The long goodbye to EasyJet for Swissport

[VIPER_MAV]

Just a short thread to confirm the news,
Easyjet at London Stansted has confirmed today their new ground-handling agent will be Menzies Stansted, with effect from the 31st March 2009.

The impact this will have on Swissport Stansted is unknown at the moment.

Menzies are currently not setup at Stansted and will require a new work-force as of the 31st March 2009.

It is expected that a large number of Swissport workers will TUPE over to Menzies, but this has not been confirmed.

The news is in its very early stages, and hopefully within days the impact will be clear.:(

[Skipness One Echo]

Seeing as none of Aviance, Swissport and Servisair are exactly raking in the revenues at Stansted, how can Menzies put a business case for setting up at STN? I know easyJet got them started at Gatwick and Glasgow thought, are the two firms linked in any way?

[Magic Buff]

I saw this happen myself twice before, when Ezy sold out from Aviance to the circus at LPL and then again when they left Aviance for Menzies at BFS, although usually the TUPE arrangement happens,but it is only mandatory on the incomming handling agent if the contract represents more than 60 percent of the other handlers business, am not sure if this would be the case with Swissport at STN. The other point is that it leads to a massive loss of morale among the staff, they end up feeling that they have been betrayed by the airline and by both handlers, they will feel that all their efforts in the past and all the good will and favours they have done will have counted for nothing, so what happens, even if they TUPE over, these favours and good will, will cease.
Thirdly, the staff did not apply for jobs with Menzies, they wanted to work for Swissport, so even if they TUPE, they will feel that they are involentarrily working for the opposition, who will be for them an unknown and untrusted entity, they will have evolved a certain way of working that they think is sensible and logical and with which they are comfortable, and then Menzies of course will come along and want to impose their own ethics and proceedures, leading to futher misunderstandings and mistrust, Menzies will have presumably got the contract due to the fact that they were cheaper, as is usually the case and will therefore seek to save money on materials and staffing levels, which will do nothing for the staff other than confirm their worst fears, Easyjet will demand the same standards for less money and the staff will say 'why should we care, we gave you what you wanted before and you sold us out,' oh yes this whole thing is frought with potential problems.
It also leads staff to being alienated from each other, they will regard their former collegues who are still at Swissport with envious eyes and seek to return there at the first possible opportunity, so what is safe and known.

[GULF69]

Hi all,

out of ignorance, what is TUPE?

69

[Spitfire boy]

TUPE = the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 and UK employment law. To quote g"is the main piece of legislation governing the transfer of an undertaking, or part of one, to another. The regulations are designed to protect the rights of employees in a transfer situation enabling them to enjoy the same terms and conditions, with continuity of employment, as formerly." Common in outsourcing world in IT and it seems now in aviation ground handling.
CIPD - Transfer of undertakings (TUPE) (http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/emplaw/tupe/tupe.htm)

[GULF69]

many thanks :ok:

[tickerdboo]

Well, for whats its worth....

Easy Come Easy GO.......

Im sure all you guys who work of Swissport STN will be fine, in fact if your an overtime junkie then your quids in as I remember the good old days when Groundstar (as it was know, Check your payslip) first started off and Im sure the new handling agent will be no different.

Anybody for a dubble on Sunday with 6 hours added on top.........

[opswench]

U R ok if U TUPE across but Menzies dont pay sick and if u r on shift on a bank holiday, it is standard rate (no lieu day) but you do get 28 days off ... there is a "productivity" bonus (£100 per month) but as they have just made a load of people redundant at LCY and LTN not sure that they will be offering that. The words "no money in the pot" are used quite often by the powers above ....

Good Luck STN!

[speedbird_481_papa]

Quote from Magic Buff:


I saw this happen myself twice before, when Ezy sold out from Aviance to the circus at LPL and then again when they left Aviance for Menzies at BFS, although usually the TUPE arrangement happens,but it is only mandatory on the incomming handling agent if the contract represents more than 60 percent of the other handlers business, am not sure if this would be the case with Swissport at STN. The other point is that it leads to a massive loss of morale among the staff, they end up feeling that they have been betrayed by the airline and by both handlers, they will feel that all their efforts in the past and all the good will and favours they have done will have counted for nothing, so what happens, even if they TUPE over, these favours and good will, will cease.
Thirdly, the staff did not apply for jobs with Menzies, they wanted to work for Swissport, so even if they TUPE, they will feel that they are involentarrily working for the opposition, who will be for them an unknown and untrusted entity, they will have evolved a certain way of working that they think is sensible and logical and with which they are comfortable, and then Menzies of course will come along and want to impose their own ethics and proceedures, leading to futher misunderstandings and mistrust, Menzies will have presumably got the contract due to the fact that they were cheaper, as is usually the case and will therefore seek to save money on materials and staffing levels, which will do nothing for the staff other than confirm their worst fears, Easyjet will demand the same standards for less money and the staff will say 'why should we care, we gave you what you wanted before and you sold us out,' oh yes this whole thing is frought with potential problems.
It also leads staff to being alienated from each other, they will regard their former collegues who are still at Swissport with envious eyes and seek to return there at the first possible opportunity, so what is safe and known.


You have summed this up nicely but replace Swissport with Servisair and tat is EXACTLY how it is here at BRS. This sums up the mood and feeings extremely well.

Roll on next summer when servisair will be recruiting again. :{

Speedbird

[Hollymead]

Never ever go back ! :=

[mickey71]

i have heard that menzies offer a bonus to those that are employed on their contracts but also heard if you lose a radio or damage a dispatch vehicle then that money for replacement or repair is taken out of everyones bonus!

i am sure it be a tupe situation,if often doesnt stop there once the tupe takes place! sometimes you may find slowly but surely after a few months the terms and conditions are changed!

i know a few people who have gone through a tupe some its worked to their benefit others not so!

i feel sorry for all of you who find yourself in this situation,all i can say is i hope it works out for the best.

[fe11]

"Anybody for a dubble on Sunday with 6 hours added on top"
firstly since Swissport bought out Groundstar, they have put a stop to all "deals"..
secondly, with the present season there is no overtime at all...
Swissport cannot offer any information to their staff as to the situation or the likleyhood of employment in four months time!!!

"women and children first... follow me"

[OPS1978]

Sounds A bit like BHX aswell

[legalize]

Deals!!!

I remmeber my good old days of working for handling agents. 'Deals' played a major part in the day to day running of the operation. There was always the guys who were experts at negotiating ' deals' for themselves. Im sure you all have these guys in your companies. Them says, 4 hours on top for staying over an hour was standard practice.

What are the deal offered these days?

[fe11]

the official line is the company doesnt do deals!!!
they have just introduced a new electronic clocking in system which "will pay for itself in a couple of years".... (a non profit making machine pays for itself???)

with regards the loss of the easyjet (and German wings) contracts, no new information has been forthcoming and i wouldnt expect any till the new year...

[British Grenadier]

Being an ex-Swissport LHR Staff, when we went under in 2004, i have just about seen most things at LHR, the worst and most annoying thing at LHR is Menzies, they are slowly grabbing contracts , started with Aer Lingus, then Cyprus, Lot,Finnair,Air Portugal,Austrian,Lufty check -in, their wages are crap £ 9.50ph, no shift allowance , no London waiting, no sick pay, flat o/t rate yet they get the staff, a friend of mine said that out of 40 staff on shift he was the only loacal person that spoke English !!, god knows how long before they take over LHR !!!!

[Magic Buff]

Well we seem to get ripped off at every turn dont we!
isnt it time we took a leaf from the French? Mess with the French workforce at your peril!
The difference is that we in Britain moan and winge like mad and no one actually has the guts to stand up for themselves,so we get done over time after time!
How turned over do we have to get before enough is enough, and it isnt just at this airport or that airport, or this handling agent or that one, it is all airports and all handling agents!
Maybe it is time during this period of change to set the record straight.

[c.a.i.l.]

i hate to sound biased but am working for menzies and the bonus system is in operation and they do pay. at our station we get a max of £200 / month based on performance. the only time that we lost it was when one of the guys put a dent into an easy aircraft but it was still paid next month.
for equipment damage, we report and the individual loses part of theirs - definitely not the whole station.

[greuzi]

Can any Dutch speakers translate this? In the Dutch news this week.

Menzies Schiphol schrapt 280 banen

Bij afhandelaar Menzies Aviation op Schiphol moeten 280 van de 570 banen verdwijnen. Dat meldt FNV Bondgenoten. Het gaat daarbij hoofdzakelijk om de passagiersafhandeling. De sanering zou geen gevolgen hebben voor de vrachtdivisie van Menzies, waar onder meer Martinar Cargo wordt afgehandeld.

[Vetje]

Menzies Schiphol schrapt 280 banen

Bij afhandelaar Menzies Aviation op Schiphol moeten 280 van de 570 banen verdwijnen. Dat meldt FNV Bondgenoten. Het gaat daarbij hoofdzakelijk om de passagiersafhandeling. De sanering zou geen gevolgen hebben voor de vrachtdivisie van Menzies, waar onder meer Martinar Cargo wordt afgehandeld.


In english this means:

At Menzies Aviation at Schiphol they have to cut away 280 jobs from the total 570. Its mainly at the pax handling. No consequenses for the Cargo dept.

[suppie]

The loss of jobs at Schiphol AMS airport is due loss of handling contracts of Arkefly which is a dutch charter company and loss of VLM which is in hands of KLM nowadays.
The terrible thing is that staff working for KISS who r handling the LCC carriers r not involved