UK strikes: London Heathrow Airport security guards to strike at Easter for 10 days

More than 1400 security guards employed by Heathrow Airport will walk out during one of the busiest travel periods of the year. It comes after Border Force staff strikes over Christmas last year and amid a wave of industrial action across the UK. Photo / 123rf

Security guards at London’s Heathrow Airport will walk off their jobs for 10 days over the Easter break, the latest in a wave of strike action to affect the UK.

The union Unite said on Friday more than 1400 security guards employed by Heathrow Airport, one of Europe’s busiest, will strike from March 31 to Easter Sunday, April 9, to demand better pay.

Unite said those striking include guards who work at the airport’s Terminal Five, which is used exclusively by British Airways, as well as those responsible for checking all cargo that enters the airport.

The strikes will coincide with the two-week Easter school holidays, traditionally a peak time for travel for many in Britain.

The union said workers are forced to take action because they cannot make ends meet as a cost-of-living crisis continues to affect millions of Britons. Heathrow has offered a 10 per cent pay increase, but the union said that wasn’t enough amid soaring inflation and following years of pay freezes.

“Workers at Heathrow Airport are on poverty wages while the chief executive and senior managers enjoy huge salaries,” Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said.

Inflation in the UK climbed steeply last year to 11.1 per cent in October, though it dropped to 10.1 per cent in January. That’s still the highest in about 40 years, and a dramatic change after years of 2 per cent inflation.

Heathrow said it has contingency plans to keep the airport open and operational.

“Threatening to ruin people’s hard-earned holidays with strike action will not improve the deal,” the airport said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of teachers, doctors, health care workers, train and bus drivers and civil servants have staged mass walkouts in recent months to demand higher wages.

Union leaders representing nurses and ambulance crews have reached a pay deal with Britain’s government, raising hopes that disruptions at the country’s state-funded hospitals will soon end, but many other industries remain locked in bitter pay disputes with authorities.

Tens of thousands of teachers, doctors, health care workers, train drivers and civil servants have staged disruptive strikes in recent months to demand higher wages. Photo / AP

On Saturday, thousands of rail workers staged another round of strikes that paralysed about half of all train services across the UK.

Britons have endured many days of train stoppages since last summer as the transport unions’ bitter dispute with the government drags on. More strikes are planned on March 30 and April 1. - AP