Fourteen days of planned strike action by security staff at Aberdeen Airport have been called off after workers voted to accept an improved pay offer from their employer, ICTS HBS Security.
The dispute centred on pay for ICTS staff who carry out passenger security screening and baggage checks at the airport. After Unite members unanimously backed strike action, with walkouts scheduled on alternating days from 6 July through to 1 August, ICTS made a last-minute improved offer on the evening of 3 July — just days before the first strike date. The revised deal included a 6.5% rise in basic hourly pay and an improved overtime rate. Unite suspended all planned industrial action as a “gesture of goodwill” while members voted, and confirmed on 28 July that the offer had been accepted, meaning none of the 14 strike days went ahead.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the improved offer was “a direct result of our members being prepared to take lengthy strike action,” and pointed to ICTS UK’s parent company reporting profits of £7.6 million in 2025, up from £4.4 million the year before, as evidence the firm could afford a better deal.
The resolution follows a wider pattern across Scotland’s main airports this year. Similar pay disputes involving Unite members at Glasgow and Edinburgh were also settled through fresh offers before reaching the picket line, following ballots that opened in May covering close to 900 workers across the three airports.
For passengers who had been planning summer travel through Aberdeen, the resolution means one less thing to worry about — and for drivers and transfer operators serving the airport, it removes the risk of the kind of security-related delays and cancellations that strike action typically brings.
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