Strikes at Gatwick

something daft already!! · 14 Jul 2023 at 22:23

Looking like there will be strikes at Gatwick, just in time for a lot of people's holidays. My partner booked herself and her mum on a holiday and she is due to fly out during the strike. I really hope she does get to go. They say around 850,000 people could be affected.

Anyone else planning to fly then?

Gatwick Airport staff to strike at start of summer holidays

Unite has scheduled the strikes for the end of July and the start of August, and has warned that delays and cancellations are "inevitable".

news.sky.com

Hagar · 14 Jul 2023 at 22:47

Nobody wants to do the day job any more.

Minusorange · 14 Jul 2023 at 22:51

something daft already!! said:
I really hope she does get to go.

Is this because you'll be stuck with the mum if she doesn't ?

uber soldat · 14 Jul 2023 at 22:55

Minusorange said:
Is this because you'll be stuck with the mum if she doesn't ?

Pics of partner and her mum needed.

explicit4u · 14 Jul 2023 at 23:03

The one strike I can't get behind, need as many people to gtfo during the summer holidays, bad enough with all the kids not in school.

CaptainRAVE · 14 Jul 2023 at 23:08

Glad I don’t have a holiday booked, it’s chaotic enough when everything works.

Hagar · 14 Jul 2023 at 23:13

I can see a new pressure group forming

UNITE TO JUST STOP OIL.

They just need to borrow the dinky orange hats from the junior doctors to complete the ensemble.

MatsyLR · 14 Jul 2023 at 23:18

Well they have to do it during a time where it would be the most disruptive to company profits.

b0rn2sk8 · 14 Jul 2023 at 23:46

Hagar said:
Nobody wants to do the day job any more for rubbish pay.

FTFY

Allegedly they earn £12 an hour... you can't afford to live on that wage within commuting distance of London.

The cheapest 1 bed 'apartment' (aka tiny bedsit that has a combined living and bedroom - yes just a single room with a tiny bathroom and kitchen) is £750/month on right move.

So you earn about £380 a week after tax while making no pension contributions and your just rent is £173 (45%) of that.

It's about £115/week if you can stomach a tiny flat share (not even a house share!) which is still over 30% of your take home pay.

What a way to live....

Hades · 14 Jul 2023 at 23:53

b0rn2sk8 said:
FTFY

Allegedly they earn £12 an hour... you can't afford to live on that wage within commuting distance of London.

The cheapest 1 bed 'apartment' (aka tiny bedsit that has a combined living and bedroom - yes just a single room with a tiny bathroom and kitchen) is £750/month on right move.

So you earn about £380 a week after tax while making no pension contributions and your just rent is £173 (45%) of that.

It's about £115/week if you can stomach a tiny flat share (not even a house share!) which is still over 30% of your take home pay.

What a way to live....

Genuine question... if the pay is poor (and it does seem to be from your example) then why don't they get a different job?

Whenever I have wanted or needed a pay rise I have moved jobs.

I don't have that opinion with vocational work such as nursing (pay them triple what they currently earn). But a private company job like this? Just go and get a different job for more money. If you don't have the skills to get another job then upskill.

Minusorange · 15 Jul 2023 at 00:35

Hades said:
Genuine question... if the pay is poor (and it does seem to be from your example) then why don't they get a different job?

If I was them I would be looking for a different job given in a couple decades AI will replace them

b0rn2sk8 · 15 Jul 2023 at 00:37

I get the sentiment but who is going to shift all those bags if they all go and get jobs that pay more elsewhere?

I can’t imagine that many baggage handlers are in it for the long haul either, it’s hard graft.

The reality is that people are already doing those better paying jobs. Those who find themselves without a better paying job are left with little choice but to do what ever work is available and unionise to negotiate better terms.

As long as you can get a £40 flight to Spain, it’s all good right?

Minusorange said:
If I was them I would be looking for a different job given in a couple decades AI will replace them

I’d love to see an AI baggage handler :cry:

Sythe79 · 15 Jul 2023 at 00:42

Hades said:
Genuine question... if the pay is poor (and it does seem to be from your example) then why don't they get a different job?

Whenever I have wanted or needed a pay rise I have moved jobs.

I don't have that opinion with vocational work such as nursing (pay them triple what they currently earn). But a private company job like this? Just go and get a different job for more money. If you don't have the skills to get another job then upskill.

The point is NOBODY can afford to live on those wages, your solutions seems to be, don't strike everybody quit and shut down the airport anyway because there's no one willing to do the work to run it. this isn't farming, you know holidays are important.

The reality is 10–20 years ago you could live off the wages doing the same job. for perspective, they are basically on £2 an hour more than I was 20 years ago when I worked in a warehouse for a year, that's pretty pathetic.

413x · 15 Jul 2023 at 00:46

I mean, if they added just 50 to every flight, would that be enough?

I'm actually surprised this isn't already completely automated

Sythe79 · 15 Jul 2023 at 00:53

I think they are already as automated as they are going to get. the whole cyborg doing manual labour idea actually turns out to be a lot harder than it appears. there are a lot of white collar workers going to lose their jobs soon that might need to hit the gym to earn their £12 an hour.

Minusorange · 15 Jul 2023 at 01:13

b0rn2sk8 said:
I’d love to see an AI baggage handler

I don't see why AI wouldn't be able to manipulate the baggage so it can see & scan the label and put it in the correct flight package, it seems like every point of the process could be automated

If AI can do vastly more complex jobs like sorting plastics, sorting luggage should be easy, it would probably stack the luggage more efficiently and without damage than the humans

jon86 · 15 Jul 2023 at 04:28

A look inside the busiest airport´s baggage handling operations

Travel blogger Jeb Brooks spent a day on the ramp with Delta Air Lines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

powerstow.com

One of the busiest airports in the world, Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta, Georgia, USA does have one of the largest automated baggage systems in the world, which sorts and manages as many as 100,000 bags per day. Despite this, baggage handlers are still needed to put the baggage onto the motorised carts, drive the baggage carts to the plane(s), and load the baggage onto the plane(s), and then do the reverse when a plane lands.

Hotwired · 15 Jul 2023 at 05:26

Minusorange said:
I don't see why AI wouldn't be able to manipulate the baggage so it can see & scan the label and put it in the correct flight package, it seems like every point of the process could be automated

If AI can do vastly more complex jobs like sorting plastics, sorting luggage should be easy, it would probably stack the luggage more efficiently and without damage than the humans

How does AI provide the special sauce here.

You're talking about a powerful robotic system which would be an incredible expense and could run on decades old barcode scanner tech.

Reuben klang · 15 Jul 2023 at 06:10

Minusorange said:
If I was them I would be looking for a different job given in a couple decades AI will replace them

Don’t even think in a couple of decades. I was in CDG on Friday flying back to the UK and there was very few if any staff. Check in bags are all done on a machine, you go to the first machine and print of your boarding pass (if you so chose, can have it digitally) and the sticker for you bag. You then take it to another machine and drop the bags off. There was 1 member of staff for I’d say 16 or so machines, she was running around like a maniac for the entire time.

Then once that was all done, she was the one who checked your passport and as you scanned the ticket to board the flight.

It’s bare min of staff now.

Sythe79 · 15 Jul 2023 at 06:34

Reuben klang said:
Don’t even think in a couple of decades. I was in CDG on Friday flying back to the UK and there was very few if any staff. Check in bags are all done on a machine, you go to the first machine and print of your boarding pass (if you so chose, can have it digitally) and the sticker for you bag. You then take it to another machine and drop the bags off. There was 1 member of staff for I’d say 16 or so machines, she was running around like a maniac for the entire time.

Then once that was all done, she was the one who checked your passport and as you scanned the ticket to board the flight.

It’s bare min of staff now.

That's basically hospitality and clerical, and yes, a lot of those jobs can be replaced easily. the logistical end not so much and what can be replaced has been already, those jobs have already gone.