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British Airways strike overview:
- Who: British Airways check-in staff at London’s Heathrow Airport have suspended strike action.
- Why: Plans for a strike ended after British Airways made an improved pay offer to the staff members.
- Where: The strike would have occurred at London’s Heathrow airport.
A proposed British Airways strike of 700 check-in staff at London’s Heathrow airport has been halted for now after the airline made an improved pay offer to its employees.
Members of the GMB and Unite unions last month voted in favour of strike action amid a dispute over a 10% pay cut made during the pandemic, the Daily Mail reports.
Check-in staff were moved to strike amid allegations that full pay had been reinstated for managers but not for them. The airline was warned that the strike would cause “severe disruption” to flights at Heathrow.
On July 7, British Airways made an improved pay offer in response to the strike, Unite says. It follows nine hours of intense negotiations in which an “agreement in principle” is understood to have been reached. Union members are set to vote on the offer.
“We welcome that BA has finally listened to the voice of its check-in staff,” Unite general secretary Sharon Graham tells the Daily Mail.“Unite has repeatedly warned that pay disputes at BA were inevitable unless the company took our members’ legitimate grievances seriously. I pay tribute to, and stand with, our members who have fought hard to protect their pay.”
GMB national officer Nadine Houghton added that the move was “long overdue.”
“All our members—who are predominantly low-paid women—wanted was to be given back the pay cuts BA imposed on them during the pandemic, threatening them with fire and rehire if they said no,” she tells the Daily Mail.
Potential British Airways strike, labour shortages caused chaos at Heathrow
Heathrow Airport has been chaotic since March as airlines struggled to hire enough staff to meet the demand in the midst of nationwide labour shortages.
British Airways has been one of the worst affected carriers in terms of schedule disruption in recent months as the aviation industry battles increased demand and staff shortages, the Daily Mail reports.
Up to the end of June, BA had cancelled 17,600 flights, or 2.8 million seats. Nearly 1,000 further flights have been cancelled so far this month alone, too, including 785 from Heathrow and 186 at Gatwick.
The airline has said it is facing the “most challenging period in its history.”
In related news, in 2021, British Airways inked a settlement in a group action filed in the aftermath of a 2018 data breach that exposed the personal information of more than 420,000 customers and staff.
What do you think of this outcome for check-in staff? Let us know in the comments!
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