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Security staff at London Heathrow are set to hold 31 days of strikes this summer following the escalation of a pay dispute with the airport.
The Unite union, which represents the security staff, said the action would start on 24 June and would affect more than 2,000 security officers based at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 and Terminal 5.
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 (Heathrow Airport Ltd) 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.”
The union has announced strikes on June 24-25 and 28-30, July 14-16, 21-24 and 28-31, and August 4-7, 11-14, 18-20 and 24-27. These dates include much of the peak summer holiday season for the airport and include most weekends during this period.
Unite’s regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King added: “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.”
Around 1,400 security staff based at Terminal 5 have already held a series of strikes during the dispute, while another 600 employees working in Terminal 3 voted to join the action last month.
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.”
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