Heathrow Strike Announced for May by Airport Security Staff

As part of a dispute over wages, security staff at London Heathrow will go on strike in May for eight days.

Following recent strikes during the Easter holidays, 1,400 Unite members who work as security staff in Terminal 5, used exclusively by British Airways will walk out between 4 and 10 May (coinciding the coronation ceremony of King Charles, 6 May), then again from the 25 to 27th of May.

Cirium, a firm that analyses aviation data, has calculated that 5,148 flights (51%) are scheduled to leave the UK hub in the strike period. Of these, 2,621 are operated by British Airways.

Wayne King, Unite's regional coordinator, said: "Strikes next month will cause further disruption to airport passengers but this dispute is a direct result of Heathrow's stubborn refusal to make an offer that meets our members' expectations."

Heathrow announced that it "listened" to its colleagues and had made a new offer of pay to the staff. This included a lump sum payment this year of PS1,150.

"Our members are very clear that they want a permanent, substantial increase in their pay. "A small lump-sum payment will not ease the financial strains that our members face on a day-today basis," King said.

A recent survey revealed that one third of the security staff plan to quit their jobs.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said: "This dispute is bound to escalate with more workers being balloted and disruption set to continue throughout the summer."

Source: businesstravelnewseurope.com