Uh-oh! Heathrow security staff announce escalated wave of summer strikes

[GWAM]

Starting June 24 and pretty much every weekend thereafter until August. Terminal 3 as well as 5 now to be affected. The last wave was just T5.

 

Could have especial disruption potential for Cunarders flying Heathrow-JFK prior to embarkation, especially if same day.

 

Heathrow say that "disruption" will be "minimised".

 

IOW, there will be disruption just a question of what "minimised" means.

 

Hmm.

 

Anyway, Cunard are aware and monitoring.

 

Just thought it best to heads-up on here for any TA voyagers who may be – potentially – affected.

 

BBC News link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65831998

Edited June 7, 2023 by GWAM
changed T3 to T5

[BigMac1953]

Yet another reason to avoid aeroplanes.

[NE John]

All the bad karma that’s been going on from the global airline industry played a big factor in us taking the June 23 TA back home after our 10 day UK trip.
Being on the QM2 again was, of course, the other main factor. 

[Mercruiser]

3 hours ago, BigMac1953 said:

Yet another reason to avoid aeroplanes.

The day I arrived in Southampton on QM2 from NY, there was a rail strike. Glad I had booked a rental car. 

 

Yet another reason to avoid aeroplanes and trains. 😏

[Mercruiser]

Thanks for posting this article. Fortunately, my onward flight departs from T4 on a day without a strike. I do like the European way of publicizing strike days ahead of time. 

[GWAM]

Update: 

 

Members of the two unions involved are now to vote - from today until June 23rd - on a restructured pay deal. Accordingly, the first strikes scheduled for June 24-26 have been cancelled. Union officials have recommended that members accept the new terms. Looking promising that accord has been reached. Here's hoping. Ballot result not likely until June 24, mind, which is awfully close to the next scheduled dates of strikes which are due, as things stand, to commence from June 28-30. Anyway, the following is from today's FT, which puts a more hopeful context on the overall sketch: 

 

The new offer from Heathrow — which said it was 'pleased' to have seen unions recommend — consists of a 10 per cent pay rise for this year, backdated to January, which would increase by a further 1.5 percentage points to 11.5 per cent from October.

The airport added that it was guaranteeing an inflation-linked pay rise for 2024, with a minimum of 4 per cent. It was previously offering a 10.1 per cent increase for the whole of 2023.

The extra increase from October addresses a complaint from Unite that the previous offer fell short of retail price inflation (RPI), now running at 11.4 per cent.

Heathrow had insisted the increase amounted to a real-terms pay uplift because it exceeded the rate of consumer price inflation, a more widely used measure, now at 8.7 per cent.

The guarantee of an above-inflation rise in 2024 is linked to CPI, which is forecast to fall sharply in the coming year.

[A spokesman] said the new offer had been put forward after “extensive negotiations” between the union and management last week.

“Members will now be balloted on the latest offer and they will decide whether or not it meets their expectations,” he said.

Unite said that if members rejected the offer, the remaining 29 days of strike action would go ahead. The ballot on the pay offer runs from June 13th to June 23rd.

The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents some other Heathrow staff but had not been planning walkouts, is also recommending the offer to members.

Heathrow has insisted throughout that it can minimise disruption from the scheduled stoppages. The company, owned by a consortium led by Spain’s Ferrovial, indicated on Monday that it still had “robust” plans to handle any stoppages if Unite members rejected the deal.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023