A four-day strike by workers at Gatwick Airport - which was due to begin on Friday morning - has been called off after workers received a “significantly improved” pay offer.
The workers employed by ground handling company Red Handling, who are members of union Unite, received the revised offer late on Wednesday and will now be balloted on the proposed deal.
Unite regional officer Dominic Rothwell previously predicted this weekend’s walk-out would “cause serious delays and disruption across Gatwick”.
The strike had been due to run from midnight on Thursday to midnight on Monday, and was expected to impact 216 flights and around 45,000 passengers.
Unite said on Thursday: “As an act of good faith this week’s strike action has been suspended.”
If the workers reject the latest pay offer, further strike action planned from Friday August 25 until Monday August 28 will go ahead as scheduled.
Unite regional officer Dominic Rothwell said: “Unite has been consistent from the outset, we believed that Red Handling could afford to make an improved offer and that proved to be the case.
“Our members will now decide whether the deal on the table meets their expectations.”
The strike by Red Handling staff had been due to affect ground handling for Norse Atlantic, Norwegian, Delta, TAP Air Portugal, and Saudi.
The cancellation of the strike by Red Handling staff comes after separate strike action by staff employed by Wilson James - which operates the passenger assistance programme at the airport - was also scrapped.
Unite members at Wilson James had been due to walk out this weekend, but the action was suspended to allow them to vote on a new “greatly improved” pay offer.
