TRADE unionists and politicians in the Highlands are set to gather on Thursday to discuss the impact of a proposed relocation of air traffic controllers to Inverness.

The Prospect union will host a jobs summit to discuss the Highlands and Islands Airports’ (HIAL) planned centralisation of the highly skilled jobs.

HIAL air traffic staff took part in a one-day strike last week as part of ongoing industrial action aimed at ending the controversial remote towers project.

The project has been widely condemned because of the risk that moving the highly skilled jobs will force people to leave rural communities.

Prospect deputy general secretary Garry Graham said the union’s action against the “misguided” plan was about “protecting good-quality skilled jobs in the Highlands and Islands.

“The summit brings together politicians to discuss how those opposed to this plan can work together to make sure that organisations like HIAL cannot ride roughshod over the wishes of workers and local communities which badly need these jobs,” he said.