Travel chaos is expected as some of the biggest airlines will be hit by strikes at Heathrow Airport during busy periods of the summer holidays. A massive 31 days of walkouts will affect popular dates including the Eid festival, the beginning of the school holidays, and the August bank holiday.
The walkouts are expected to take place almost every weekend over the summer, as the union warned more may be to come, according to the Mirror. Unite the Union announced the swathe of industrial action beginning in just a few weeks' time, on Saturday, June 24.
It will involve more than 2,000 security officers - including those at Terminal Three for the first time - and the union warned disruption was "inevitable".
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Heathrow security officers are striking on:
- June 24, 25, 28, 29 and 30
- July 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30 and 31 July
- August 4, 5, 6 , 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, and 27
Last week they voted to join security colleagues from Terminal Five and campus security on the picket line. The Union warned a large number of airlines could face disruption and travel chaos, and this includes Virgin, Emirates, Qatar, United, American and Delta airlines.
Similarly, as Terminal Five is a part of the walkouts, Unite said British Airways' summer schedule would be "heavily" affected. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite is putting Heathrow on notice that strike action at the airport will continue until it makes a fair pay offer to its workers. Make no mistake, our members will receive the union’s unflinching support in this dispute.
“HAL has got its priorities all wrong. This is an incredibly wealthy company, which this summer is anticipating bumper profits and an executive pay bonanza. It’s also expected to pay out huge dividends to shareholders, yet its workers can barely make ends meet and are paid far less than workers at other airports.”
But Heathrow Airport sort to reassure passengers they will try and minimise the impact of strikes so Brits can still enjoy their holidays. A Heathrow spokesperson said: “Passengers can rest assured that we will do everything we can to minimise strike disruption so they can enjoy their hard-earned summer holidays. Unite has already tried and failed to disrupt the airport with unnecessary strikes on some of our busiest days and we continue to build our plans to protect journeys during any future action.
“The simple fact remains that the majority of colleagues do not support Unite’s strikes. There is a two-year inflation-beating pay rise ready for colleagues, if only Unite would allow them to have a say. We will continue talks with Unite about resolving this issue.”
Workers rejected a pay offer of 10.1 percent, as the two sides have clashed repeatedly over conflicting claims about pay and previous treatment of workers. Whilst Unite cites "widespread bitterness" amongst worker about the treatment they've faced, Heathrow maintains that they were one of the few organisations to not make any frontline redundancies during coronavirus >Covid.
The two sides also clashed over claims about comparing workers' pay to other London airports. Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: “Delays, disruption and cancellations will be inevitable as a result of the strike action. But this dispute is completely of HAL’s own making.
“The company has been given numerous opportunities to make an offer that meets our members’ expectations and so avoid another period of damaging strike action. Sadly, HAL has stubbornly refused to take this opportunity.”
The dispute could further escalate in the coming weeks, the union cautioned as it cited ballooning pay for the airport's chief executive John Holland-Kaye, who saw his salary soar from £800,000 in 2020, to £1.5million in 2021.
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