Hundreds of British Airways employees at Heathrow Airport decided to strike in protest of their salaries. Most of the check-in staff, who are Unite and GMB union members, supported industrial action on Thursday.
During the summer, when travel demand is expected to be near pre-pandemic levels, 700 employees will go on strike. The inability to reverse a 10 percent wage cut that was put in place during the height of the pandemic, according to the unions, is what sparked the walkout.
500 Unite members voted 94.7 percent in favor of strike action, compared to 95% of GMB members who supported walkouts. The official strike dates will be announced in the following days.
The proposed action will impact only a small percentage of Heathrow-based British Airways employees who do customer service-related tasks and other customer service personnel who weren’t put to a vote.
There is a report that BA, which operates from Heathrow Terminals 3 and 5, has plans to cover employees, including managers who may be in charge of check-ins, in the event of strikes. However, travelers would still experience delays, especially at terminal 5, which would affect routes with several daily flights and result in cancellations.
The GMB claims that the check-in staff “have got nothing,” in contrast to other British Airways employees who are said to have gotten a 10% bonus.
BA stated that it was “extremely disappointed” with the vote’s outcome. According to a statement, “despite the incredibly challenging conditions and losses of more than £4 billion,” the majority of our comrades accepted our offer of a 10% compensation. The airline asserted its dedication to holding conversations to “get a settlement” with the unions.
According to sources from the BBC, additional BA departments have agreed to a salary raise of 10%, including those who work in ground operations, engineering, and cabin crew and who are also represented by Unite and GMB.
Unite union member Russ Ball alleged that BA had “insulted this workforce” by reducing managers’ pay by 10% but not our members. According to Mr. Ball, the airline had a “short window of opportunity” to bring employee pay up to pre-epidemic levels or risk walkouts that would “inevitably cause severe inconvenience.”
BA “tried to offer our members crumbs from the table in the guise of a 10% one-off incentive payment, but this doesn’t cut the mustard,” according to Nadine Houghton, the national officer for the GMB.
A strike “would only increase the suffering being faced by travelers at airports,” according to Downing Street, which urged all parties to “come together to negotiate a compromise.”
The government expects BA “to put in place contingency procedures to ensure that as little disturbance is caused and that when there is a disruption, passengers can be compensated,” a No. 10 official said.
This summer will be difficult for British Airways. IT problems and a labor shortage have already impacted this year’s events. However, there is now a chance to add industrial action to the equation. The check-in staff at Heathrow is scheduled to go on strike during the summer rush.
Although the airline has backup plans in place, interruptions will probably happen given how pressured the systems are now. The airline asserts that its 10% one-time bonus offer acted as a starting point for in-depth compensation negotiations and that it wants to work with the workers.
The industry is still under strain since it is still having trouble. The problem, though, is that a lot of employees were horrified when the cuts were first made because of what they saw as the airline’s management’s authoritarian methods. It is clear that many employees don’t believe what their managers say.
Jeff Payne was a BA supervisor at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 before voluntarily leaving his position in August 2020 and obtaining a job as a postman in Surrey. When international travel resumed, Mr. Payne, a 24-year industry veteran, claimed that he had the option of returning to BA, but he turned it down when his previous position with a lower income became available.
Tens of thousands of travelers have been impacted recently as a result of airport problems and aircraft cancellations. There are now concerns that there might be additional issues with travel this summer due to the hundreds of flights throughout the UK that had to be canceled during the week of the Platinum Jubilee and the school half-term. In addition, it has been challenging for the aviation industry to fulfill the surge in demand for international travel, even though several other factors have contributed to the disruption.
At Heathrow Airport, more travelers are expected than previously. In comparison to its December prediction, the busiest airport in the UK anticipates growth of about nine million passengers, or 54.4 million, across its terminals.