Liberal Democrat group leader Alan Dean to broker talks between Stansted Airport easyJet workers and Uttlesford District Council

Talks between easyJet employees at Stansted Airport and Uttlesford District Council are being brokered by the local authority's Liberal Democrat group leader.

Stansted North member Cllr Alan Dean met with the workers and other Unite union members at their latest protest against job cuts.

The budget airline has announced plans to close its base at Stansted, along with its facilities at Southend and Newcastle, although flights would continue.

It had three employees and 335 cabin crew at Stansted before lockdown and is set to cut up to 5,000 jobs across its European operation after predicting that passenger levels will not return to pre-coronavirus levels for at least three years.

Before the crisis, easyJet accounted for 9% of all Stansted flights on 27 routes, with up to 210 departures a week and 2.8 million passengers a year.

Cllr Dean talked to Claire Lees, Unite's regional organiser, and Mark Barter, the union's officer at Stansted, about their concerns on Monday (August 10).

He said: "There is deep discontent with easyJet for threatening staff with redundancy whilst taking central government funding and handing out millions of pounds in dividends to shareholders. Hence their slogan 'orange Outrage'.

"I agreed to their request to try to set up discussions with Uttlesford District Council over airport employees' plight and the impact on the local economy of airport job cuts, which are likely to have a knock-on downside for the local economy and businesses.

"This would be the case if easyJet uproots its aviation support services from Stansted and simply uses the airport as a runway for picking up and dropping off passengers."

Bishop's Stortford Town Council is to talk to Manchester Airports Group, Stansted's operator, about closer collaboration to safeguard roles and promote job opportunities.

Members of the council's finance and policy committee agreed with Cllr Shane Manning that as redundancy rises in the town, better communication with the region's largest single-site employer was vital.