It seems strike action is in Heathrow Airport‘s future, with workers represented by Unite the Union planning to walk out over plans to fire and rehire its 4,000 workers on reduced pay.
It could get a lot quieter inside Terminal 5 if the proposed strike action goes ahead – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The strike action by members of Unite, the UK’s principal aviation union, will involve firefighters, engineers, campus security, baggage operations, operational and airside workers.
The airport management warned in September it wanted to make pay cuts of 15% to 20%, due to the downturn in traffic
According to Unite, the workforce at HAL recorded an 85 per cent vote in favour of industrial action.
The planned industrial action dates are:
- Tuesday 1 December (one day)
- Monday 14 December (one day
- Thursday 17 and Friday 18 December (two days).
The strikes will run for a full 24 hours, however, they could impact dates either side of the strike.
In Quotes
Unite regional coordinating officer Wayne King said:
“Workers are taking strike action as a direct result of Heathrow Airport’s brutal proposals to fire and rehire them on greatly reduced wages.
“The airport is using the Covid-19 pandemic as a smokescreen to permanently cut workers’ pay.
“Unite has put forward several alternative suggestions to reduce staffing costs on a temporary basis, all of which have been summarily rejected by management.
“This strike action will undoubtedly cause a great deal of disruption to passengers and cargo deliveries using the airport but this is purely a result of the company’s appalling treatment of workers.“Unite is fully prepared to take part in talks to resolve this dispute anytime, anyplace and anywhere.”
Expect disruption
It goes without saying that with some core services affected like firefighting, this could bring the entire airport to a halt. As such, expect disruption if you’re planning to fly around these dates.
Hopefully, both sides can come to some sort of agreement without impacting passenger service
Because let’s be honest – the last thing any airport needs are fewer passengers at this time (even when passengers shouldn’t be travelling unless for essential purposes).
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