British Airways (BA) workers at Heathrow have voted to strike during the school summer holidays, in a move set to cause more travel chaos as the industry struggles to recover from the COVID pandemic.
Members of the GMB and Unite unions overwhelmingly supported the prospect of industrial action over pay with 95% of those voting, at both unions, backing strikes on turnouts of 81% and 63% respectively.
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What are my rights if strikes hit the summer holidays at Heathrow?
It means that more than 700 BA check-in staff and ground-handling agents could walk out at the height of the summer season.
No strike dates have been announced, as the unions suggested that they wanted to give the airline some time to change its mind on the key issue.
The unions are seeking to reverse a 10% pay cut on workers that was imposed during the pandemic when global lockdowns grounded flights.
Around 13,000 jobs were also cut by BA.
The airline has offered a 10% one-off bonus but not a return to the same pay as before.
“With grim predictability, holidaymakers face massive disruption thanks to the pig-headedness of British Airways,” Nadine Houghton, GMB National Officer, said in a statement.
“GMB members at Heathrow have suffered untold abuse as they deal with the travel chaos caused by staff shortages and IT failures. At the same time, they’ve had their pay slashed during BA’s callous fire and rehire policy,” she said.
“What did BA think was going to happen?”
Unite officer Russ Ball added: “The problems British Airways is facing are entirely of its own making. It brutally cut jobs and pay during the pandemic even though the government was paying them to save jobs.”
BA ‘extremely disappointed’
It is understood that if strikes do go ahead, those balloted for…
Source : skynews
