After the disruption of the railway strikes British Airways staff at Heathrow airport have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action over the summer in a dispute over pay.
Workers at the UK’s busiest airport voted 95 per cent in favour of strike action in a ballot.
Over 500 members of Unite union are in dispute after accusing BA of restoring the 10 per cent pay cut made during the pandemic to management but refusing to reinstate wage rates for check-in staff.
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The GMB union has also balloted its members in the A scale division at Heathrow for industrial action.
Unite is now giving BA an opportunity to remove the 10 per cent pay cut before announcing strikes which will cause severe disruption to flights this summer.
There have been thousands of flight cancellations and chaotic scenes at UK airports at the beginning of the holiday season as a result of staff shortages.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled or rescheduled and in Spain next month Easyjet staff will go on strike affecting UK holidaymakers.
Unite officer Russ Ball said staff were furious about how they are being treated.
He said: “The problems British Airways is facing are entirely of its own making. It brutally cut jobs and pay during the pandemic even though the government was paying them to save jobs.
“In the case of this dispute, they have insulted this workforce, slashing pay by 10 per cent only to restore it to managers but not to our members.
Ball added: “BA is treating its loyal workforce as second class citizens and they will not put up with it a moment longer.
“Strike action will inevitably cause severe disruption to BA’s services at Heathrow.
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