Working for a French Bank, I seem to have a finger on the strike pulse…
Gatwick and Stansted Bank Holiday Stike Action And Possible Strike Action by London Underground
A series of ballots are taking place at UK airports over the coming days, with London’s second and third busiest airports the first to announce strikes.
Baggage handlers and check-in staff at Gatwick are to stage two 24-hour walkouts, on August 25th and again on August 29th, after rejecting a 3-per cent pay offer. Travellers could experience cancellations and lengthy delays as operations at a number of airlines are halted.
Virgin Atlantic, Monarch, Thomson Fly, First Choice, North West, Air Malta, Air Transat, Oman Air will be among those affected, along with some smaller airlines.
At Stansted, 300 workers, who are employed as baggage handlers and check-in staff for easyJet and Ryanair will strike over the same two 24-hour periods, on August 25th-26th and August 29th-30th, starting at 3am on both days. A spokesman for the GMB union, which represents the workers advised 90 per cent voted in favour of the action.
The Unite union said the 318 Gatwick workers, employed by Swissport, had rejected the “paltry” pay offer as it was well below the rate of inflation.
It warned that the dispute was likely to spread to other airports in the next few days and weeks because of similar rows over pay. A ballot will be held for Manchester staff on Monday. Unite members at Swissport will also shortly be balloted at Birmingham and Newcastle airports. The union said it expected workers to vote in favour of striking.
Travellers departing from Stansted are already facing disruptions as workers who screen luggage prepare to strike after rejecting a 1.5 per cent pay offer. The strike involves more than 30 staff who screen baggage after they leave check-in desks on the way to the hold of aircraft.
Travellers in the south-east could be dealt a double blow if a strike by workers on the London Underground goes ahead next week.
Around 1,000 members of London Underground’s biggest union, RMT, have planned two 72-hour strikes between noon on Wednesday August 20th and noon on Saturday August 23th, and then from noon on Wednesday September 3rd to noon on Saturday September 6th.
The striking workers maintain track and trains on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, but a spokesman for the RMT advised that there will be “a fairly substantial knock-on effect across the whole network.”
This means travellers planning to use the tube to get to London’s airports should leave extra time for their journey, or consider alternative routes.