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As unions confer with more workers about whether to stage pay strikes, industrial action at British Airways might extend more comprehensively throughout the UK.
At Heathrow Airport, about 700 employees, primarily check-in personnel, have already decided to strike during the summer vacation. However, the GMB and Unite unions are also advising engineers and call center employees on taking action at Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester, and Newcastle.
In order to “completely commit to working together to find a solution,” BA stated.
On Wednesday, hundreds of British Airways employees supported a strike in protest over a salary cut of 10% implemented during the pandemic. However, GMB members at Heathrow want the complete wage to drop to be undone. Instead, the airline has offered personnel a one-time payment equal to 10% of their salaries.
According to British Airways, it provided a “10% payment offer that was accepted by the majority of other colleagues.” According to the BBC, this applies to the ground operations, engineers, and cabin crew employees who Unite and GMB also cover.
The wider consultation poll addresses general salary problems and is separate from the Heathrow issue. Thousands of BA engineers at Heathrow, Gatwick, and in Scotland, as well as call center employees in Newcastle and Manchester, are currently participating in a consultative poll for potential industrial action in a salary dispute, according to a spokeswoman for the GMB.
“I don’t think this is going to stop with customer check-in staff,” GMB general secretary Gary Smith told BBC Breakfast. Many of our members in the BA business are absolutely sick to death with the layoffs that have occurred. People want to see the salary and conditions restored because they have witnessed the company being pushed into the dirt over a long time and are furious at how BA’s upper management cynically took advantage of the epidemic.
The consultation is held to determine participation and any potential actions the workforce may want to take. However, it is the time before a formal vote on taking strike action would be held.
Read Also: British Airways employees back summer strikes over salary
If unions for Heathrow check-in personnel and BA cannot agree, vacationers and other travelers run the risk of disrupting their trips. According to aviation data company Cirium, about 1.8 million BA passengers are expected to depart from Heathrow in July, the start of the nation’s school holidays. While Scotland and Northern Ireland start their summer vacations on July 1, schools in England and Wales end on July 22.
Heathrow employees could begin going on strike as early as July 7. According to the law, unions must provide a corporation with 14 days’ notice before taking action. Unions have not yet specified the strike’s dates, but they anticipate making a statement early next week.
As the situation developed, BA stated: “We will keep our customers updated on what this entails for them.”
International Airlines Group, the company’s owner, has already reduced the number of flights it operates between March and October by 10%.
Following the Covid lockdown, when the industry lost thousands of jobs as global travel came to a grinding halt, airlines and airports have battled to keep up with an increase in demand for travel.
Opinions expressed by California Gazette contributors are their own.
