>Jobs were still heavily unionised and the baggage handlers had strict quotas of aircraft that they were assigned to for the shift, any extra had to be negotiated for extra payment ! As a spotty teenager I was earning a packet.
Ditto at Castle Don., but the issue of our potential employment as "temporary casuals" (and their loss of overtime) kicked off some massive row between the baggage handlers and airport management (circa 1980). In the end, we were taken on, but not allowed to work loading the aircraft, just sorting the bags onto trolleys as they came off the belt.
What nonsense! They were over-unionised prima-donnas, and quite unpleasant to work with.
To correct the thread drift:- when I joined SAS at Manchester circa 1985, there was still the huge glass chandelier/sculpture in the landside departures area. "How did they get the glass that colour?" I wondered, looking up at the unique yellowey-brown hue. When they reinstalled it following buidling work and relocation (about the same time that those moving walkways disappeared), I found my answer:- they had it cleaned of around twenty years of nicotine and muck, and back to clear glass.
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