Heathrow Airport workers are set to go ahead on an eight day strike after last minute talks fail, risking chaos for holidaymakers.
Strikes planned to begin tomorrow, Thursday 4 May, involving security officers are due to go ahead after last minute talks including conciliation service Acas broke down.
This could risk chaos for any Brits looking to get away for the Coronation weekend as the 1,400 officers walk out.
The officers are based at Heathrow's terminal 5, and its campus security and will strike starting tomorrow, including May 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10, and the again later this month on May 25, 26, and 27.
Heathrow, which lost over £4bn during the pandemic and remains lossmaking today, was blasted as “the poverty pay citadel” of the capital’s airports, as the country suffers through a cost of living crisis.
Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: “Unite has given Heathrow Airport every opportunity to make an improved pay offer, which could have led to the strike action being suspended. Sadly, they refused to grasp the opportunity to make an offer which could meet members’ expectations.”
The union have warned that security officers at Heathrow make up to £6,000 a year less than their counterparts at Stansted or Gatwick airports.
Even workers at the much smaller Luton Airport make around £500 a year more, Unite said.
The latest pay offer is on top of a 4% pay increase + a £2k lump sum payment last year and as Heathrow employees are represented by both Unite and PCS, a pay deal can only be implemented with the agreement of both unions.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Heathrow prides itself on being the UK’s premium airport – it is bigger and handles more flights and cargo than any other. So it is frankly indefensible that security officer pay is far lower than other London airports. Imagine, the so-called ‘best in Britain’ is actually a citadel for poverty pay. How can this be justified?"
Unite research has found that since 2017, pay for the airport’s employees has fallen by 24 per cent in real terms.
Meanwhile, chief executive John Hollan-Kaye saw his pay almost double from £800,000 to £1.5million from 2020-21, the union claimed.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “Passengers can be reassured that they will travel as normal. This is an important time for the country, and we will not let these unnecessary strikes disrupt journeys. We have activated our contingency plans and deployed 750 additional colleagues and the entire management team who will be on-hand in the terminals providing assistance to passengers.
“The majority of colleagues do not support strike action. Colleagues could have an inflation-matching pay increase for two years – 10% this year and a CPI linked increase in 2024, as well as a £1,150 lump sum but instead they’re left empty-handed by Unite’s refusal to allow members to vote on the offer.”
