East Midlands Airport workers face ‘unacceptable abuse’

The union says airport workers face “unacceptable” levels of abuse.

GMB surveyed 100 members who work at East Midlands Airport on a third-party basis and found that 70% had experienced verbal abuse from passengers.

Nathan Keightley, Swissport’s aircraft dispatcher at EMA, called for further action on the matter.

Swissport said it shared the union’s concerns, while EMA said no one working there deserved to be harassed.

A survey by GMB of members who work on-site with passengers but are not employed by the airport itself found that 62% of respondents felt unsafe coming to work due to harassment or aggressive behavior by passengers, and half said they had considered changing jobs as a result.

The survey also found that 37% of respondents said they had experienced violence that took the form of discrimination, including racist and sexist comments.

GMB has called on the aviation industry to take further action to address the issue ahead of the holiday rush.

Post-Covid growth

Keightley, who is also a GMB representative, said: “(Staff) face a lot of verbal abuse on a daily basis. They are shouted at and cursed at. There have been cases of physical violence in the past and this is simply unacceptable.

“People are here to do a job. It’s a very difficult job, requiring long hours and unsociable working hours.”

Keightley said travelers need to understand that “people are just doing their job and don’t deserve to be yelled at.”

He added that he has seen an increase in abuses following the Covid pandemic and that the 10-year rule on passports is also causing “a lot of problems”.

EMA’s director of customer and planning, Mike Grimes, said: “This survey does not cover employees at East Midlands Airport, but we take the well-being of our staff very seriously and it goes without saying that no one who works here deserves to have it abused.

“The latest survey conducted among our employees shows that 79% feel physically safe at work.” A Swissport spokesman said the company “supports work to highlight this issue”, adding that there are “robust mechanisms” in place to provide workers with support.

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