Heathrow Security Staff Plans Summer Strikes

Around 2,000 security officers at London's Heathrow Airport have announced a new series of strikes this summer, which could affect travelers to the UK.

According to the BBC, officers who are members of the Unite union would walk out of their jobs for 31 days, from June 24 to August 27, as a "major escalation" in its pay dispute with the airport.

Unite's strikes would coincide with busy times for travel, including the Eid festival (June 28-30), the beginning of school holidays (July 21-24), and the August bank holiday (24-27).

The union added its members rejected a "below inflation pay offer of 10.1%" as the retail price index (RPI) was now at 11.4%.

The strikes would affect Heathrow terminals 3 and 5, as well as checks for non-passengers. While previous strikes have appeared to have little impact on passengers due to Heathrow's contingency measures, the union's announcement to include terminal 3 workers could mean long queues at security in the UK's busiest airport.

Heathrow Struggling to Cope Post-Pandemic

In addition to the workers' issues, the airport was also struggling to recover from the impact made by the COVID-19 pandemic, as it reported a £139 million ($173.5 million) loss in the first three months of this year.

Heathrow Airport said it would do "everything" it can to minimize disruption during the strikes. "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," said a representative for the airport.

On the other hand, Unite's Sharon Graham slammed the airport's management for claiming its struggles, saying it "got its priorities all wrong." "This is an incredibly wealthy company, which this summer is anticipating bumper profits and an executive pay bonanza," she added.

PCS union members of the Border Force staff at Heathrow also held a series of separate walkouts this year, forcing the government to deploy military personnel to staff entry gates.

Meanwhile, the BBC's transport correspondent Katy Austin said it is unclear at the moment whether any airlines would cancel flights to one of the busiest airports in the world due to the strikes.