Heathrow Airport Security Guards to Go on Strike Over Easter Says Union
23:56 GMT 17.03.2023 (Updated: 10:47 GMT 05.05.2024)
© AFP 2023 / Daniel Leal-Olivas
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Over 1,000 security guards at London’s Heathrow Airport plan to go on strike during the Easter holidays, trade union Unite has announced, warning of flight delays.
"Over 1,400 security guards employed by Heathrow Airports Ltd (HAL) and who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, have voted for strike action," Unite the Union said on Friday, warning that flights at Heathrow Airport "will experience severe delays and disruption this Easter as workers take extensive strike action in a dispute over pay."
The trade union specified that the strike will last for ten days, starting March 31 and ending on Easter Sunday (April 9).
"Our members are simply unable to make ends meet due to the low wages paid by Heathrow. They are being forced to take strike action due to need not greed," Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said as quoted in the union’s release, adding that the workers "deserve a fair pay increase."
Unite explained that the strike action is the result of Heathrow Airport only offering a 10% pay increase to the workers, which is insufficient due to years of pay cuts and the current inflation rate and cost of living crisis.
“Workers at @HeathrowAirport are on poverty wages while the chief executive and senior managers enjoy huge salaries. It is the airport’s workers who are fundamental to its success and they deserve a fair pay increase.” @UniteSharon 1/2https://t.co/oA7GEPQbZp
— Unite the union: join a union (@unitetheunion) March 17, 2023
The United Kingdom has seen a series of strikes by civil servants over the past months, with workers expressing dissatisfaction with the worsening economic situation caused by rising energy prices and soaring inflation in the country.
