Gatwick airport set to avoid strikes in peak summer travel season

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The wave of strikes threatening the summer getaway at London’s Gatwick airport appeared close to being resolved on Monday, after ground handling staff received a series of new pay offers.

Almost 1,000 workers were due to walk out for eight days in July and August in a dispute over pay with four companies contracted to run airlines’ ground operations at the UK’s second busiest airport.

The stoppages were set to cause disruption for thousands of holidaymakers at a peak time for travel and put further strain on Gatwick’s operations, which have already been hit by disruption caused by air traffic control delays this summer.

But the Unite union on Monday said that it had called off strikes by workers at DHL, which is contracted to run operations for Gatwick’s largest airline easyJet, after they voted to accept a 15 per cent rise, an uplift in skills pay and an increased premium for working overnight shifts.

“This is an excellent result secured by the steadfast position of our DHL members,” said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.

The union added that staff at two other ground handlers, ASC and Menzies, were being balloted on “improved offers”, although it cautioned that walkouts were still possible if workers rejected them.

Talks in the final dispute with Gatwick Ground Services, a subsidiary of British Airways, were “progressing in a positive direction”, Unite said.

Strikes by GGS workers scheduled between July 28 and August 1 have been suspended, but a second walkout between August 4 and August 8 would go ahead “if a satisfactory outcome is not reached in time”, Unite said.

Critical to airlines’ operations, ground handling companies are subcontracted to run services ranging from check-in to baggage handling and refuelling.

Labour shortages across ground handlers were one of the biggest causes of last year’s sweeping travel disruption, but companies have reported far higher staffing levels this year, in part because of significant pay rises.

The apparent easing of the strike threat represented a major boost to Gatwick, which has been criticised by airlines this summer over resourcing problems in its control tower.

Only 40 per cent of flights from Gatwick departed on time in the week ending July 2, the most recent period with available data, according to Eurocontrol, the region’s air traffic control manager.