Passengers at Great Britain’s largest airport Heathrow have to expect delays and flight cancellations in summer. Security personnel have announced that they will go on strike for 31 days during the peak tourist season.
Travelers at London’s Heathrow Airport are threatened with a tough summer: As the union Unite announced, the security staff at the airport want to stop work between the end of June and August – the employees are demanding higher salaries. According to this, more than 2,000 security guards at Terminals 3 and 5 will stop working for a total of 31 days. The walkouts are scheduled between June 24 and August 27.
The strikes coincide with busy travel times, including the Islamic Festival of Sacrifice, the start of the school holidays and numerous bank holidays. In addition, Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world, so the strikes at Britain’s largest airport are likely to affect not only people from Great Britain, but also thousands of other travellers.
The union warned that “delays, disruptions and cancellations” of flights must be expected because of the strikes. A Heathrow spokesman said everything would be done to minimize disruption during the strikes. Unite is demanding a fair wage offer for Heathrow security staff from employers. If that doesn’t happen, the strike will continue.
High inflation rate
The strikes come as Heathrow is struggling to recover from the effects of the pandemic. The airport operator recorded a loss of £139m in the first three months of the current year.
Workers across the country have been fighting for higher wages for months. Last year, employees at the railways, the post office, in education and in the health sector went on strike. The reason is the high inflation, which reduces real wages and thus the purchasing power of the British people. Although inflation fell in April, it remained at a high level of 8.7 percent. Food prices in particular rose significantly.
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