Holidays under threat as Heathrow security staff plan strike

Security staff at Heathrow airport have announced 31 days of strike action which could cause travel chaos for British holidaymakers. 

The strikes will involve over 2,000 security officers and staff from the airport’s Terminal 3 will join workers from Terminal 5 will  for the first time. Campus security, who are responsible for checking all personnel and vehicles airside, will also be joining the strike in what is expected to have a big impact on flights. 

Strikes will kick off from Saturday June 24 and are expected to hit many of the world’s biggest airlines. 

The Unite union has said the strikes are over “declining pay for Heathrow employees” and “abject low pay” for security officers.

A large number of airlines will be affected by the action including Virgin, Emirates, Qatar, United, American and Delta. British Airways flights will be impacted by the action at Terminal 5.

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Strike dates

June 24,25,28,29,30

July 14,15,16,21,22,23,24,28,29,30,31

August 4,5,6,7.11,12,13,14,18,19,20,24,25,26

Eid Festival, the school holidays and the August Bank holiday will be impacted by the strikes. 

Unite secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Unite is putting Heathrow on notice that strike action at the airport will continue until it makes a fair pay offer to its workers.

“Make no mistake, our members will receive the union’s unflinching support in this dispute.HAL has got its priorities all wrong.

“This is an incredibly wealthy company, which this summer is anticipating bumper profits and an executive pay bonanza. It’s also expected to pay out huge dividends to shareholders, yet its workers can barely make ends meet and are paid far less than workers at other airports.”

A Heathrow spokesperson told Express.co.uk: “Passengers can rest assured that we will do everything we can to minimise strike disruption so they can enjoy their hard-earned summer holidays.

“Unite has already tried and failed to disrupt the airport with unnecessary strikes on some of our busiest days and we continue to build our plans to protect journeys during any future action.

“The simple fact remains that the majority of colleagues do not support Unite’s strikes. There is a two-year inflation-beating pay rise ready for colleagues, if only Unite would allow them to have a say. We will continue talks with Unite about resolving this issue.”

The union has warned the dispute could escalate in the coming weeks.