British Airways (BA) staff based at Heathrow have voted to go on strike after members of the GMB and Unite unions backed industrial action. Workers, including check-in staff, will now decide on strike dates, which the unions said were likely to be held during the peak summer holiday period.
Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said holidaymakers were likely to face "massive disruption thanks to the pig-headedness of British Airways ". She added: "BA have tried to offer our members crumbs from the table in the form of a 10% one-off bonus payment, but this doesn't cut the mustard."
She further said GMB members at Heathrow had suffered "untold abuse" as they dealt with travel chaos caused by staff shortages and IT failures. Ms Houghton added: "At the same time, they've had their pay slashed during BA's callous fire and rehire policy. What did BA think was going to happen?"
