My council source

I have no doubt the council will ignore any objections as they own the asset.

Because someone doesn’t write or phone in does not mean they are neutral, it just means the council has form when it comes to ignoring complaints so why bother.

Also remember all local councils object to airport expansion so they represent their residents. Even little old Friends of Wigmore Park has around 2500 members and they also object.

As I have said before the council intends to create a new set of low paid workers as working in the terminal, on the apron or in the car parks is not a way to get rich unless you are a tanker driver. There is an argument that a zero hour contract is better than no job but that just leads to in-work poverty.

This is worth a read about Luton Airport and the jobs it will create. Does anyone dispute the report?

https://stoplae.org/workers-trapped-...owned-airport/

It would be more compelling if you could produce some numbers to counter the report e.g. are ground staff paid above the average wage in the local area? It may be short on numbers, but it has the ring of truth to me....

The SLAE "report" is pretty thin - more of a polemic from a red-top newspaper than a serious analysis.

One of my hopes for post-Brexit Britain is that immigration is limited. It's these zero-hours contract jobs on the minimum wage that are fed by new arrivals. Often single people, they can live cheaply, and are prepared to work hard and conscientiously for little pay and no guarantees - but often for far more money than they can earn in their home country.

If the supply of cheap labour was limited, employers would have to improve pay and conditions to retain staff. Those that didn't would lose business.

This sounds like a long-term hope, but I firmly believe that it could be a positive spin-off from the cessation of "freedom of movement", which has fuelled the current surge in low-security, low-paid jobs.

And I speak as someone with first-hand experience of this end of the jobs market.

When I was first starting out in the industry (around 2010) I was offered around 20hpw under £8ph to be a PSA, doing early shifts, by an agency who were pretty clear that they had a high turnover of staff and if someone kicked up, they'd be out on their ear pretty quickly. Not great.

That said, you also have many decently paying jobs - flight crew, engineers and other operational staff. The closure of MON and the engineering arm was worth about 1,500-2,000 of those stable jobs but EZY and TUI, as well as WUK / FBO ops have a big presence, more so than other larger airports.

All the Stop LAE stuff feels like it's been written by a child. There's lots more data and facts out there that could be used to constructively criticise the expansion of the airport. Unfortunately it misses the mark every single time and just reads like an unbalanced Daily Mail piece, if that Daily Mail piece was being written as some kind of teenage tabloid competition. So easy to dismiss that it undermined peoples genuine concerns which is a great shame.

https://www.london-luton.co.uk/corporate/working-at-lla

Not many vacancies give hours and money but the above vacancies appear on the airports website. Friska is the first one I randomly came across giving hours and wages. No doubt there will be 40 hour jobs buried in the links if someone wants to go through the list.

Friska is offering 16 and 24 hour contracts paying £9.10 per hour or 8, 16, 24 and 30 hour contracts paying £8.35 per hour.

I have attended 2 airport job fairs and didn’t see any well paid jobs. There were plenty of low paid low hour contracts on offer plus zero hour work but then these are the vacancies that have really high staff turnover rates. Good jobs don’t get offered at job fairs. Of course there are the engineering jobs and jobs working for the likes of Easyjet, TUI and Gulfstream but these jobs are not going to increase just because the council builds a new terminal.

Remember the council has 20 year old outline planning permission to build a business park but want’s to use the land for a long term car park.

Nice to see WHSmith offering jobs at the minimum wage of £8.21 ph. Even better if they employ youngsters under 25 at under £5.
At least the salary of the CEO helps balance the average salary for the company.
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog...n-3-4m-payout/

Needless to say the CEO doesn't work at LLA.

A pious hope I fear. The PM is not anti immigration, he his anti EU (allegedly) and anti free movement. UK workers have come to enjoy the luxury of not having to do those nasty, low paid jobs in hospitality and customer facing service industries and the likes of Tim Martin won't allow them to stop the supply of lower paid workers from abroad to impact on their salaries and corporate profits. Dream on I'm afraid.

[Thread drift] The PM is only 'anti' anything that steps in the way of his birthright. He is 'pro' anything for himself.

How dare Luton take a Diversion today, just to bust pax numbers, no doubt!

Been like that for years, know a few who started off in Luton with Monarch & Britannia , once on ladder move to Harpenden, Ampthill or Woburn.
Luton Town will benefit from 3rd party businesses supplying the airport.

There was a time when probably over 50% of the ATC staff came from Luton or the surrounding areas, but alas no more.

Not those chaps/chapesses shown in the Luton Nostalgic thread of 16th Nov.......?

Wizzair using a SmartLynx from Riga today, demand that high or are delivery of new shiny new airbuses affecting them like Easyjet are experiencing?

Written by locals who are facing a new terminal and all the health hazards that will bring, being built literally on their doorstep. Judging by what I have been told, garnering considerable support locally and politically for the work they are doing in highlighting the huge financial gamble allegedly being taking by a borough council.

Written by locals who are facing a new terminal and all the health hazards that will bring, being built literally on their doorstep. Judging by what I have been told, garnering considerable support locally and politically for the work they are doing in highlighting the huge financial gamble allegedly being taking by a borough council.

A good summary there.....I am pro-airport in many ways but this current Council needs to be held to account. Those who simply support expansion at any cost need to realise that if this was any other major UK airport the situation would be far more balanced and local residents would at least have a local Council who might actually listen!