Strikes misery for Christmas air passengers
AIR passengers face a Christmas of chaos after thousands of baggage handlers, pilots and aircrew announced plans for industrial action.
More than 1,500 members of the Unite union employed at Heathrow, Gatwick and 16 other airports will stage a 48-hour strike starting on Friday, two days before Christmas.
On the same day, pilots at Virgin Atlantic will begin a “work to rule” protest over union recognition. Around 2,000 BA cabin crew have also voted to strike on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Airlines have not ruled out flight cancellations, while industry insiders said disruption was “inevitable” and warned passengers to be prepared for their luggage to be delayed.
British Airways said it was “appalled” at the decision by the Unite union and pledged to ensure its customers get to their destination.
The row involves around 4,500 socalled mixed fleet cabin crew who joined BA since 2010. Unite say they are on lower pay than other staff.
The airline labelled the strike actions “calculated and heartless” and said in a statement: “We are appalled that Unite proposes to disrupt customers’ travel plans on such special days when so many families are trying to gather together or set off on well-deserved holidays.”
The knock-on effect of the strikes could blight the Christmas period if a backlog of baggage piles up at the airports, which could take days to clear.
One industry source advised passengers to pack Christmas presents, valuables and a change of clothes in their
hand luggage if they wanted to be sure they have them when they arrived.
As well as Heathrow and Gatwick, the Unite strike will affect Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Bournemouth, Doncaster, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle, Luton, Southampton and Stansted.
After Unite announced the strike yesterday evening, airlines were scrambling to work out how bad disruption will be. BA was among those that did not yet know how passengers will be affected. The strike involves check-in staff, baggage handlers and cargo crew employed by Swissport, Europe’s largest ground handling company. The dispute over pay appeared targeted for maximum impact, as passengers carry more luggage over Christmas.
Unite members voted by 62.5 per cent to reject a 4.65 per cent three-year pay deal for 2015-2017, which the union said barely kept pace with inflation.
A senior industry insider said: “There are likely to be a lot of passengers flying without their luggage. It will cause major disruption… I would urge anyone travelling over Christmas to pack gifts, valuables and some spare clothes in their hand luggage because it might be days before their hold luggage arrives.”
Virgin insisted it had put in place contingency plans to avoid flight cancellations as a result of more than half its pilots supporting “work to contract” action, starting on Dec 23.
Unite national officer Oliver Richardson said: “We appreciate that this is a very busy time of year and that’s why we are calling for the company to engage in constructive talks under the auspices of Acas.”