Section 787 We won recognition!

2026-09-11T00:00:00Z

The votes have been counted, and we now have our first union recognition agreement at Skyscanner! Take a moment to acknowledge how amazing that is before reading on.

Thank you! #

A huge thank you for making this happen. Thank you for voting, for talking with colleagues, for sharing your stories, for taking part in AMAs, for asking questions. We really appreciate your contributions, and wouldn’t have reached this milestone without your hard work.

What’s next? #

Things are going to change in the union and at work, and you get to make that change.

We’ll have more details about next steps and the plan for the Annual General Meeting in the coming weeks. In the meantime, take some time to celebrate, and also think about what’s next:

Could you be a representative?
Do you have a colleague that you think would be a great representative?
Do you have an idea for how the union should run?
Do you have a change you’ve been wanting to make at Skyscanner?

Your union needs you, your ideas, and your dreams, to be successful. Take this time to imagine your more democratic workplace, and your role in it.

This is an absolutely enormous milestone for us, for Skyscanner, and for the tech industry. Celebrate it.

If you're not already a member, now's a great time to join #

Your union will be the most representative and strongest if every member of the bargaining group is a member, and if every worker is represented by a union.

For members of the bargaining unit, joining is your opportunity to shape the union. For colleagues outside of the bargaining unit, joining is how you form the next one.

Join the union.

Your Questions, Answered. Part 2.

2026-09-06T00:00:00Z

In our last webinar, we had a number of questions we didn't get to answer live. Here are the remainders.

The scope of the agreement is narrow, how can recognition affect our broader compensation and conditions? #

While the recognition agreement only requires negotiation on base pay, you would absolutely consider what's happened to our other benefits when it comes time to negotiate. So if, for example, there's a large change to share schemes or bonuses, that would absolutely influence what you and your colleagues expect when it comes to pay.

And for other topics, just because negotiation is only required in certain areas, doesn't mean that Skyscanner leadership isn't allowed to listen to employees, even if those employees are union members or reps.

In the event of yes, we have rep elections and AGMs. What does the ongoing engagement from non-reps (or non-union) staff look like - e.g. forums, clinics, etc? #

We get to decide this together at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Usually there are:

General meetings for all members
Surveys
Sometimes meetings set up in particular teams/ departments that can be less formal but give opportunities to check in. This can be helpful because sometimes people feel they are experiencing something individually that reps will pick up on when speaking to several people and they can see that it may be collective or let people know about available support.
A named rep around that you can speak to

Is it normal to vote with an agreement? a friend's workplace tried to unionise but they only voted on the union / the agreement wasn't defined #

No, it’s very unusual. Because voluntary agreements are flexible and tend to change over time, it’s more normal to vote on the principle of collective bargaining and then define the scope of the agreement after. Skyscanner leadership suggested negotiating the agreement first, and your negotiators agreed.

As a current union member, I want to help push for a better workplace but worry about potential management repercussions. am I legally protected? #

Yes! You are legally protected. Your opportunities to push for a better workplace increase significantly with a recognised union. Things like access to your colleagues, time for union activities, and a formal way of consulting with Skyscanner leadership on issues you care about become much easier with recognition.

Is tech’s low union representation maybe because most are already well paid with good working conditions, benefits and cultures? What other bars will you raise? #

Great question! While it’s impossible to know for sure, there could be a number of factors at play, including the average age of workers skewing younger and low knowledge about unions, as well as the makeup of the sector (lots of small start ups with too few employees, lots of big multinationals that would need to reach thousands of employees to get organising a union going, lots of new companies). Other industries with good working conditions, benefits, and cultures have better rates of unionisation.

I'm currently a level I, but am hoping for promotion to level J (so would fall out of the bargaining group). Isn't joining against my interests? #

No! A union will not harm your J+ colleagues, and it may well help your path towards promotion.

Your colleagues routinely discuss how advancement and promotions work at Skyscanner. Your colleagues are aware of a pattern where people are asked to perform the duties of a higher level without commensurate pay or guarantees of receiving a promotion. A recognised union gives us the potential to advocate together for a fairer, more transparent, and equitable promotion process for all.

If you do receive a promotion, you can still be a union member, and you can talk to your J+ colleagues about forming their own bargaining group. Our dream is that every worker at Skyscanner has a recognised union.

To the current reps, when you approached Skyscanner about recognition, is their current response what you expected? any surprises? #

Your reps see it as a positive sign that Skyscanner leadership agreed to voluntary recognition, and agreed a democratic process for ratifying collective bargaining.

It gives us hope for the productive and collaborative relationship we think we can have in future.

Will love unions week let us join the sector for free on a free trial? #

Every year there are membership offers for new members. Love Unions week and Reps Fortnight tend to include a 3 month free membership offer when they run.

Given the members are spread across London and Scottish offices would collective bargaining of improving just Scottish (given we're paid less) pay be in scope? #

There are many unions that bargain for pay and represent workers in multiple locations. Local conditions absolutely affect what members tend to care about and could impact pay deals as well. But more than anything, it’s what members want that dictates what the union negotiates for. If you and your colleagues wanted to improve pay in Scotland, that’s absolutely something you could negotiate for.

What's your favourite thing about working at Skyscanner and how would a 'yes' vote impact this? #

From one of your reps: Ashley

My favorite thing about working at Skyscanner is the people. I’ve worked with great people at every company I’ve been at and Skyscanner is no different. There are great people everywhere.

What usually gets in the way of great people are systems that seem unchangeable but actually are changeable. I’m excited to be in the UK where we can make positive change together with a union, and change the systems that tend to get in the way of all the great people who I get to work with.

Can you please give us a bit more context about the moving the business to another country/china question thats already been asked? #

There’s really no need to worry about this. The context was that someone asked why it might sometimes be worth not seeking unionisation and I answered that with a very hostile employer that was able and likely to shut down UK operations and move abroad I would proceed with caution if at all. That’s not the situation at Skyscanner.

Does everyone get a vote on who will be a rep going forward, or just those who are willing to pay monthly? #

Union members get to vote for reps and get to take an active role in the union. Everyone can become a member and ideally, everyone in the bargaining group would become a member.

are there any current reps who are in Product? #

There aren’t yet. All our current reps are volunteers and regardless of the outcome of the ballot, we’d love more reps.

Anyone who’s a member can volunteer to be a rep, and if we’re recognised, anyone who’s a member can run for election.

All your current reps expect the representatives to change as a result of this process.

I find myself going back and forth based on who I talk to. It comes down to trust, and I trust the reps but not Prospect. Why should we trust? #

Your union is your colleagues. You work with your colleagues every day and know them very well. If you trust your colleagues, you should trust the union.

Being a branch in Prospect also gives us the power to change Prospect. Prospect itself is a democracy and is governed by its branches, so we can change, together, the things that lead to any doubts you may have.

If you trust anything though, you should trust that a democratic structure within the UK legal framework for unions gives you far more influence, transparency, and rights than you have alone.

Recognition comes with guaranteed negotiations about topics you care about, information sharing and transparency requirements, obligations for the union and for Skyscanner leadership, and real consequences for both if these aren’t upheld.

You don’t need to just trust in this instance. Recognition means both your union and Skyscanner leadership are bound by the terms of the agreement and relevant law, including potential consequences for breaches.

Your Questions, Answered.

2026-08-19T00:00:00Z

In the last two weeks, we've heard a lot of questions from our colleagues in forums organised by Skyscanner. Some of the questions are better answered by your unionised colleagues, so here are our answers.

Skyscanner has proposed an employee forum. Can we have both a recognised union and an employee forum? #

Yes! There’s nothing stopping Skyscanner leadership from instituting more democratic structures for all employees.

How are the union reps chosen and how can we be confident that the representatives genuinely reflect the views and interests of the wider group? #

You and your colleagues choose your representatives through a democratic process.

If recognised, the union would become a "branch" in Prospect. As part of becoming a branch, you and your colleagues would decide how the union operates at an Annual General Meeting (AGM). The governance decisions made at that meeting include deciding how representatives are elected, who they represent, and how they are replaced.

So in summary, you get to help decide how the union is structured so that everyone’s views and interests are represented. You also have the power to change and amend the governance structures in future. Representatives can be distributed amongst the bargaining unit however you and your colleagues decide.

Can Skyscanner work with the union on more topics than are listed in the recognition agreement? #

Yes, and it’s your unionised colleagues opinion that proactive consultation about workplace changes will lead to better outcomes for everyone.

A voluntary recognition agreement can cover collective bargaining over any topic, and it’s your colleagues hope that as our relationship is proven productive, the agreement and working relationship with Skyscanner leadership will expand.

Visa sponsorship isn’t listed among the bargaining or consultation topics. What formal ability would Prospect have to influence decisions affecting sponsored employees? #

There are many union members who are working for Skyscanner on work visas. Regardless of whether recognition happens, joining a union is a good way to understand and protect your employment rights in a new country.If you are at all concerned about joining, remember union membership is a protected characteristic, and you cannot suffer detriment by joining a union.

Your union would be involved in any redundancy or dismissal, supporting you either individually or collectively depending on the number of redundancies. As part of a collective consultation, your union could represent sponsored employees interests, for example, advocating for garden leave, so that sponsored employees would have the maximum time to find a new sponsor before their leave is curtailed.

The Tech Worker’s Branch in Prospect, that Section 787 is a part of, has been working to improve support for members on work visas, most recently advocating for providing in-house immigration support and training. This will be progressed at the upcoming National Executive Council (NEC).

Tech Workers branch members also consulted with the migration council about the value of immigrant workers in the tech sector, providing an avenue for influencing overall UK policy.

The pay deal and structure would be the result of a negotiation between Skyscanner leadership and you and your colleagues. You and your colleagues would work with Skyscanner leadership to decide how pay increases are structured and distributed. Different workplaces do different things, and deals in unionised workplaces take all different shapes. The main difference is that you’d have a say in how they’re structured.

You representatives are aware of pay deals at other branches that have both a performance based amount and a cost of living adjustment.

How would we ensure minorities are represented among the 10 employee reps and that their outcomes in pay, promotion, and performance are addressed? #

If recognised, the union would become a “branch” in Prospect. As part of becoming a branch, you and your colleagues would decide how the union operates at an Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Those governance decisions made at that meeting include deciding how representatives are elected, who they represent, and how they are replaced.

So in summary, you get to help decide how the union is structured, so that everyone’s views and interests are represented.

As part of governance, decision making, and negotiations, the union can ensure equity is considered in all decisions. A union also provides an avenue for advocating for more than the statutory minimum when it comes to pay, equity, and fairness.

Why is the level limit set to F to I? Level I are getting separate remuneration to lower levels. #

The bargaining group was designed around decision making boundaries at work rather than current pay structure.

The goal of the bargaining unit was to represent as many people as possible who have similar working conditions and level of control over their working conditions. After discussion and debate among members, this became “UK employees of Skyscanner Technology Limited, excluding J+ managers.”

The hypothetical question members considered was, “who would be the decision makers on decisions on pay, hours and the organisation of work” and “Director and above managers” was the dividing line.

In negotiations with Skyscanner leadership, your negotiators agreed to change the final bargaining unit to have a single level bar, rather than a manager and IC division.

Bargaining groups can change over time though, and it’s your union’s dream that everyone at Skyscanner Technology Limited and Skyscanner Limited, has a union they can participate in, including our J+ colleagues.

If this is a UK decision and if the vote swings in favour of Prospect being involved, would pay/holiday etc. negotiations affect the entire global company or only UK employees? #

This is a decision for Skyscanner’s leadership. Skyscanner’s leadership already has global standards it applies where possible. Where the bargaining group gets more favorable outcomes, there’s nothing stopping Skyscanner leadership from rolling that out globally where it doesn’t conflict with local law or regulations.

Come ask your questions directly #

These questions were sourced from Skyscanner-led sessions the week of 17 August 2026.

As a reminder, we have upcoming sessions for you to hear from your colleagues and Prospect about the union, union recognition, and collective bargaining. You've heard from Skyscanner leadership. Come hear from your colleagues!

Webinars will be held on the following dates:

1st September: 6-7 PM
2nd September: 2-3 PM

Anti-union messages, debunked

2026-08-10T00:00:00Z

It's super normal to come across anti-union messaging during a recognition campaign. Anti-union companies copy paste each other's messages, and no matter the industry, size of company, or even country, you can expect the same, tired messages about unions.

So let's go through the common anti-union messages most companies use.

"The union is a third party" #

Nope! The union is you and your colleagues. The decision to go for recognition was decided by a vote of your colleagues, and the voluntary recognition deal was negotiated by your colleagues. You are in control of your union. What you fight for and how, is democratically decided by you and your colleagues.

You are the union. Learn more about how unions work in the UK.

"You'll lose your individual voice, if there's a union" #

Your union will decide, together, what to bargain over. What is negotiated is decided by you and your colleagues, and any deals are also voted on by you and your colleagues. You'll still be able to advocate for yourself at work, but more importantly, you'll gain another way to make change.

"You'll lose money because of dues" #

Union workers have better working conditions than non-union workers. Workers lose money by not having a union.

"Unions could get you a worse deal" #

You and your colleagues will propose and ratify any deals. Your colleagues share your interests and perspective, and decisions are made collectively, in the open. You wouldn't accept a worse deal, right? Your colleagues won't either.

"A union is bad for business" #

You and your colleagues love working at Skyscanner. You want a fair deal, a say in decisions that affect your work, and ultimately, Skyscanner to succeed. So it shouldn’t be a surprise a paper published in the Royal Economic Society’s Economic Journal shows that unions are good for productivity. The perspective and experience you earned by building Skyscanner, can only improve company decision-making.

"You don't need a union. You can talk to us directly!" #

A recognised union gives you time, support, and additional rights when talking to your employer. With a union, you don't have to rely on your influence, popularity, relationship with a manager, or financial security to change the workplace or get a fair deal. If you have an issue, it's likely your colleagues do too. A union gives you a structure to find people in the same situation and raise issues together.

"We're a good company. You don't need a union!" #

What do you like about your workplace? How do you keep it that way? A union is a great way of preserving what you and your colleagues like about Skyscanner. A union gives you confidence that even in the face of leadership changes, culture and benefits will only change with your consultation.

Anti-union but make it fun #

Have some fun at your next company-led meeting about unions! Bring a bingo card and see how many of the tired talking points you hear.

What will you and your union win? #

You have unions to thank for your weekend, limits on working hours, minimum wage, the equal pay act, parental leave, employment contracts, and paid annual leave.

Each of those rights was fought for and won by people like you, at companies like Skyscanner. What will you win for future tech workers?

"Union bans caffeinated coffee" ... wait, what?

2026-08-09T00:00:00Z

Tabs vs spaces settled in debate

Trailing semi-colons ruled illegal

Medallion Architecture voted in by 80/20 split

These headlines are obviously ridiculous, but aren't far from the honest misconceptions and FUD that have accumulated about Unions wasting time on frivolous things.

Unions are an old innovation that has led to the meaningful freedoms we now take for granted, like weekends, the minimum wage, and the maximum-hour working week.

If you frame a Union as a collaboration of individuals with a common interest, then you can see it's not much different to a Startup. Ultimately a Union/Startup is what the people involved make it.

It's natural as companies get larger and more distant from being a Startup, each individual is farther and farther from direct influence on what the company does and it becomes harder to contribute directly. Every company goes through these growing pains and has to choose how to solve this dissonance in its own way. One of the options in the mix is the formation of a Union:

... alternative ways of reacting to deterioration in business firms and, in general, to dissatisfaction with organizations: one, “exit,” is for the member to quit the organization or for the customer to switch to the competing product, and the other, “voice,” is for members or customers to agitate and exert influence for change “from within.” ...

In short - leaving isn't the only way to fix something broken - speaking up works too, and a Union makes that voice hold real weight.

If you compare communication/action within a Union to the multiple layers that typically accumulate in a company (think of how many levels there are between you and your CEO/Board) then the Member -> Rep -> Influence 'hop, skip, and jump' path is actually a short-cut.

When thinking of how a Union can contribute to solutions, think of it as a collection of people unifying around common purpose, often aligned with overall company benefit, but able to act quickly.

Good Startups never spend time on unimportant details, so why would a Union? What makes a good Startup? Ideas, Focus, and Action. For a Union? Same things.

We have a deal!

2026-08-05T00:00:00Z

As of 5 August 2026, Prospect, Prospect Union members and Skyscanner have reached an agreement to move forward with a voluntary union recognition ballot on 24 August 2026. Both parties have signed the formal agreement, marking the next stage in the recognition process.

The agreement #

The agreement sets out the minimum topics Skyscanner must negotiate or consult on. This doesn't prevent the union and Skyscanner from discussing additional topics where there is a shared interest in doing so.

As part of standard recognition you get the right to collectively negotiate on behalf of the bargaining unit over the following key policies:

Pay
Working hours
Holiday

It also give you the right to be informed and consulted on a range of workplace matters, including:

Collective redundancies
TUPE transfers
Certain pension scheme changes
Health and safety
Learning and training
Changes to the Capability, Disciplinary, Grievance, Training policies

As part of the negotiations, Skyscanner also agreed to formalise a Performance Management Policy, which will now be included within the scope of consultation.

The bargaining group #

A requirement for voluntary recognition is identifying a group of workers who would benefit from bargaining together.

Following Prospect members' vote in June 2025 to pursue voluntary recognition, the union submitted an initial proposal for the bargaining unit. As part of the negotiations, Prospect Union members and Skyscanner discussed the scope of the bargaining unit and agreed on the following:

UK employees of Skyscanner Technology Limited excluding J+ employees. This includes:

Software Engineers,
Systems Engineers,
Data Scientists,
Security Engineers,
Product Managers,
Product Designers,
Content Designers,
Product Researchers,
Localisation,
and any other roles introduced whose employer is Skyscanner Technology Limited.

It represents a compelling collection of disciplines integral to product delivery at Skyscanner, and matches Skyscanner’s own company organisation.

This group has a lot in common. These workers tend to contribute together, in teams with each other to achieve the same company goals.

The details #

Read more about recognition and the ballot.
or check out the frequently asked questions.

Recognition

2026-05-14T00:00:00Z

Where are we now? #

As of 14 May 2026, we have started discussions with Skyscanner about voluntarily recognising the union.

This comes after June 2025 last year, when Prospect Union members voted to start working towards voluntary recognition. On 10 April 2026, we submitted our formal request to Skyscanner requesting voluntary recognition.

What is recognition? #

The gov.uk site has a good description of both voluntary and statutory recognition, but the following is a summary.

In order to negotiate as a group or “bargain collectively” over working conditions, we’ll need to be “recognised” by Skyscanner. Recognition is what will give you the benefits you usually associate with unions, including but not limited to consultation and collective agreement about pay.

There are two paths to recognition:

Voluntary recognition is where Skyscanner voluntarily agrees to collectively bargain with you. Voluntary agreements can cover many topics and usually encompass negotiation over many terms and conditions of employment.
Statutory recognition is where Skyscanner must collectively bargain with you as is guaranteed in UK law. Statutory recognition agreements are limited to pay, hours, and holiday entitlement.

Voluntary recognition is the best option for both employers and workers since it gives both parties the most flexibility in forming their agreement and carrying out collective bargaining.

The bargaining unit #

For both voluntary and statutory recognition, we need to identify a group of workers who would benefit from bargaining together. In June 2025, Prospect Union members voted to pursue voluntary recognition and define the first bargaining unit as:

UK employees of Skyscanner Technology Limited excluding J+ managers. This includes:

Software Engineers,
Systems Engineers,
Data Scientists,
Security Engineers,
Product Managers,
Product Designers,
Content Designers,
Product Researchers,
Localisation,
and any other roles introduced whose employer is Skyscanner Technology Limited.

It represents a compelling collection of disciplines integral to product delivery at Skyscanner, and uses Skyscanner’s own company organisation as its template.

This group has a lot in common. These workers tend to contribute together, in teams with each other to achieve the same company goals. The job title limit for managers aims to group together employees based on their level of oversight, authority, and autonomy to shape their own goals.

The proposed bargaining unit also ensures we’re not leaving smaller groups of workers behind in either the J+ manager group or Skyscanner Technology Limited. Those groups of workers are large enough to form their own bargaining groups.

This is our first bargaining group, and our goal is that every employee of Skyscanner has a bargaining group that represents them.

The process #

To gain recognition, we first work with Skyscanner on voluntary recognition. If Skyscanner agrees to recognise us, we then work together on our agreement.

If Skyscanner does not agree to voluntarily recognise us, we can then submit our case for statutory recognition.

Why now? #

We've grown significantly in the past year thanks to you and your colleagues' efforts, and we're stronger than ever.

The union recognition changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025 have also come into force. On 6 April 2026, there are more favorable conditions for winning statutory recognition.

What's next #

Our hope is that Skyscanner agrees to voluntarily recognise us since it's the best option for everyone. However, if we cannot reach an agreement, we'll transition to a statutory campaign.

Section 787

We won recognition!