Bosses at London’s Heathrow Airport have entered emergency talks with the Unite trade union in a bid to avoid threatened strike action over the Easter holidays.
The threat of fresh strikes at Heathrow were flagged, earlier this month, with the potential for travel disruption affecting millions of passengers.
Unite said, at the time, that around 1,400 security officers at the airport were planning a 10-day strike from March 31 over pay conditions. It has been reported that British Airways would be the most affected airline from the strikes.
“Our members are simply unable to make ends meet due to the low wages paid by Heathrow,” Unite general secretary Sharon Graham was quoted as saying earlier this month.
At the time, Heathrow moved to soothe passenger tensions by saying it would cope with any disruption as it had contingency plans in place to keep the airport operational.
A 10% pay increase offered by Heathrow has been rejected by Unite members.
An updated quote from Ms Graham read: “Workers can’t be expected to accept real-term pay cuts as shareholders and bosses get richer and richer. So, if the strike is to be averted, there needs to be more real money put on the table to make a decent pay rise.”
