Airports have effectively buckled under the weight of a chronic staffing shortage which in recent weeks has resulted in huge queues, delays and flight cancellations across the UK.
Now a group of British Airways employees working at the check-in counters at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) are set to vote to collectively stay out of work during the high holiday season in July due to pay problems.
Main the problem is that BA restored the salaries of department heads to the level of 2019, but refused to return some of the staff cut during the coronavirus. Passenger traffic, meanwhile, has skyrocketed in recent weeks.
Voting, in which about 500 employees take part, will begin on June 7th and end on June 27th.
“British Airways has used the COVID-19 cover-up to brutally cut the wages of its workers. Now wages have been returned, but only to managers. Ordinary members receive “coronavirus” pennies. Unite the Union will not allow our members to be treated like second-class labor.”
“If workers vote to strike, we will go on strike in July, when airfare is expected to be at its highest. Union members are furious and ready to go to extremes. The strike will have an immediate impact on customer service, so I urge BA to pull themselves together and immediately restore the wages of these workers.
If this continues, the strike could exacerbate unrest and chaos at airports across the UK ahead of holidays.
Just the day before, on June 1, the flag carrier airline canceled more than 100 flights, affecting both domestic and international passengers, although most flights were canceled in advance.