I was pleased to join Unite members at Gatwick recently to support the launch of their new safety campaign ‘Abuse Doesn’t Fly’ to stop airports workers facing abuse, aggression and assault.
The campaign is asking the travelling public to be fully aware of their behaviour towards airport workers, alongside calling on airport employers and police authorities to further implement a number of safety measures to protect workers.
It’s my experience that people arriving or departing airports are often not at their best: sometimes stressed, often in a rush, perhaps even anxious about the impending flight, or had a difficult journey getting there and are fed up.
None of this, however, is the fault of the airport workers who have a job to do and may need to tell people things they aren’t at their most receptive to hear.
But this doesn’t excuse verbal abuse, intimidation or aggression. I even heard reports of physical assault. That’s not on. Staff including ground handlers, passengers service assistants, security, and customer service agents simply don’t deserve this under any circumstances.
We have all read too many stories of “air rage”. There needs to be some behaviour changes in the first instance where the travelling public think about how they conduct themselves at airports, and even some legal changes to address effectively what should happen when they don’t. Unite has a full set of proposals relating to this campaign, which I hope Parliament will listen to, particularly for repeat or persistent offenders.
I understand that in further support to this, Crawley’s Labour MP Peter Lamb has already tabled an Early Day Motion in support of securing changes to protect those working in the sector.
Crawley clearly has a lot of airport workers living in the Borough, and nearby, and this is an issue that will directly impact on many people here, so I am very aware of the importance of getting this right.
And this is a problem that Unite have shown is being encountered by airport workers across the country, so I wish them every success in this campaign.
Cllr Michael Jones
Leader, Crawley Borough Council