Unite union plans to strike at Heathrow Airport over summer

Monday, July 15, 2019

The Unite union has warned that the Heathrow Airport will remain ‘shut down’ this summer due to a series of strikes in a dispute over pay.

The industrial action will be staged on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 July, Monday 5, Tuesday 6, Friday 23 and Saturday 24 August that will involve more than  4,000 airport employees which includes security guards, engineers, passenger service operatives and passenger service drivers.

It is expected that the first two and last two dates are expected to be very busy weekends.

After the rejection of an 18 month pay offer amounting to 2.7 per cent the workers backed strike action in eight separate strike ballots. According to Unite this adds up to just 3.75 extra a day for the lowest paid workers.

Unite regional coordinating officer Wayne King commented that there is deepening anger over the pay among workers who are essential to the smooth running of Heathrow Airport.

They don’t want to accept crumbs while the chief executive pockets and an eye popping 103 per cent rise in his pay package while the shareholders are handed dividends of more than  £2 billion in the last two years alone.

There are widening pay disparities which led to airport security guards employed after 2014 to earn up to £6,000 less than colleagues hired before that date. This has added added insult to the injury.

The Unite member ensured that more than 80 million passengers passed safely through Heathrow in the last 12 months and contributed massively to the airport’s profit in 2018.

A Heathrow spokesperson felt  disappointed that Unite will be taking strike action. Following this decision, we they  be implementing contingency plans that will ensure the airport remains open and operating safely throughout any coordinated action.

The spokesperson said that they will be working alongside their airline partners to minimise disruption caused to passengers as they look towards their well-deserved summer holidays.

As a good employer they  felt proud and remained committed to find  a solution. A progressive pay package has been proposed by them giving at least a 4.6 per cent pay rise to more than 70 per cent of their frontline colleagues.

To boost the wages of the lower paid colleagues the total package offered is above RPI.The union colleague were invited back to the table and were urged to continue working with them to reach an agreement.

So far, British Airways has a majority of operations at the Heathrow plans to operate as normal.

A BA spokesperson affirmed that Heathrow airport have assured them that they will have robust contingency plans in place to avoid any disruption to travellers.

In a dispute over pay the British Airways pilots are balloting for industrial action and the voting will end on 22 July and a strike could be called from August 5 onwards.

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