Workers at Heathrow Airport, Britain’s biggest single-site workplace, will strike on 1, 14, 17, and 18 December.
Airport bosses plan to sack up to 4,000 workers en masse, and rehire them on worse terms and conditions. Some workers could lose up to £8,000 per year. 3% of all workers will have their pay cut by 20%.
Workers affected include baggage handlers, security workers, airport firefighters, and others. Passenger flights, which are expected to resume after the lockdown in England ends on 2 December, will be affected by the strikes on 14, 17, and 18 December. A statement from the Unite union said Heathrow bosses were using the pandemic “as a smokescreen to permanently cut workers’ pay.”
Along with Unite members’ strike at the Rolls Royce plant in Barnoldswick, the strike represents a rare flashpoint of resistance to the wave of job cuts currently facing workers.
