Servisair redundancies coming...

[G-STAW]

more info for you

26.08.08
Around 180 jobs are under threat at Manchester Airport in 'another sign that low-margin airport ground-handling operators are coming under increasing pressure from their airline customers,' Crain’s reports.
The newspaper has revealled that Servisair has notified unions of potential job cuts and has filed a form HR1 with the Department for Business to indicate that redundancies are being contemplated. It is unclear at this stage whether the jobs, in baggage handling and check-in, are temporary or full-time posts.
Servisair managers are to hold urgent talks this week with unions, which are expected to resist the cuts. A union source told Crain's: ‘We will be fighting these job losses or at least trying to keep them to the absolute minimum.’
The cuts are the latest sign of a business under strain. In February, 327 workers were made redundant when Ringway Handling Services closed down after losing £10m in 2007. Manchester Airports Group, which owned Ringway, said the losses were because of fierce competition.
In its latest filed accounts, Swissair acknowledges that the industry is ‘highly competitive’ and facing consolidation. It is one of four main ground-handling operate at Manchester airport. Others are Menzies, Airbase Flight Support and Swissport, which is facing the threat of strike action from workers over pay.
A ground handling manager at Manchester airport, who did not want to be named, told Crain's: ‘It's all cost driven. The airlines do not want to pay as much as they used to for handling. Some firms have gone by the wayside. At this time of year all agents are looking at the winter schedule and staffing them accordingly. It can be tough.'
‘In January and February contracts come up for renewal and it's a bidding war. Margins are tight. It's not the most money-making business in the world.’

doesnt look good!

G-STAW