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Security guards at London Heathrow are set to go on strike for 10 days over the busy Easter holiday period.
Around 1,400 members of the Unite union, who are employed as security staff at Terminal 5, which is solely used by British Airways, are due to walk out from 31 March until 9 April in a dispute over pay with Heathrow Airports Ltd (HAL).
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members are simply unable to make ends meet due to the low wages paid by Heathrow. They are being forced to take strike action due to need, not greed.
“Unite has a laser-like focus on prioritising the jobs, pay and conditions of its members and HAL needs to be in no doubt that the workers at the airport will receive the union’s unstinting support.”
Heathrow insisted that it had contingency plans to cope with the impact of the 10-day strike.
“Passengers can be reassured that we have contingency plans which will keep the airport open and operational despite unnecessary threats of strike action by Unite,” said the airport in a statement.
“We have proposed an inflation-beating 10 per cent increase in pay, which the public will recognise is fair and a majority of our colleagues have told Unite is not worth striking over. We urge Unite to come back to the table to discuss implementing it.”
The UK’s transport network has been hit by a series of damaging strikes over the past year as unions seek to secure higher pay rises for members in the wake of soaring inflation.
In a separate dispute that is also likely to affect British travellers, more than 1,000 passport office workers have voted to strike from 3 April to 5 May. Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) are in dispute with the government over pay, conditions and jobs.
The union said the latest industrial action represented an “escalation” in the dispute and blamed the government for failing to hold “meaningful talks”.
The UK Home Office said it was “disappointed” with the PCS’s decision to hold five weeks of strikes.
“We are working to manage the impact of strike action while ensuring we can continue to deliver vital services to the public, with comprehensive contingency plans in place,” added a Home Office spokesperson.
Michael Riegel, general manager of Navan Europe, said: “With experts predicting the strike could impact more than one million applications across the five-week period, the impact will be enormous to the travel industry and also British business productivity. The number one reason for business travel is to connect teams — which is now potentially at risk for thousands.”
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