Unite in talks with BAA this weekend over airport strikes

Transport 02/03/2011

Union members across six British airports Thursday voted in favour of industrial action that will affect the travel plans of thousands of airline passengers.

The strike would affect the airports of Heathrow, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Southampton and Aberdeen.

Such a walkout by airport ground staff (which includes firefighters, security workers and technical staff) would mean widespread closures and flight cancellations at airports owned by the British Airport Authority (BAA).

Now, thousands of British holidaymakers are waiting with baited breath for more details as the Unite union is expected to announce its next move next week.

Meanwhile, the conciliation service ACAS revealed that the first meeting between BAA and the union would take place on Monday at midday.

In a worst case scenario however, the earliest a strike could be scheduled would be Monday 23 August, just before the busy bank holiday weekend.

Thousands of travellers could be affected if the pay dispute is not resolved.

Unite dismissed BAA's offer of a 1% pay rise (plus a further 0.5% dependent on changes to their sickness agreement) as "measly."

Unite argued that because a pay freeze was accepted last year, its members deserved a bigger pay increase.

Brian Boyd, a spokesman for Unite said, "Strike action is the last resort to stop our members' living standards falling for the second year in a row."

The official statement on the BAA website reads, "We believe that our offer of a conditional 1.5% pay increase is fair and reasonable during a very difficult economic climate for the aviation industry."

BAA added "We hope that we can quickly conclude an agreement in the interests of the travelling public, our airlines and our staff, the majority of whom did not vote for a strike."

The editorial team