13.08.10
Travellers face problems later this month after staff at BAA's UK airports voted to strike in a dispute over pay. A ballot involving 6,145 staff resulted in a 3-to-1 vote in favour of strike action. If strikes do take place, the six airports would be closed because essential staff including firefighters are set to take part.
Unite had urged the staff to vote for industrial action over what it called the ‘measly’ pay offer of 1% plus a further 0.5% dependent on changes to sick pay arrangements. Talks between the union and BAA are planned for this weekend, with Unite set to meet with staff representatives on Monday to decide what form of industrial action its members will take. Most newspapers predict a strike over the busy bank holiday weekend.
A BAA spokesman said the company regretted ‘the uncertainty’ that the vote has caused. He said: 'We hope that the union will engage with us quickly to conclude an agreement. Fewer than half of those eligible to vote have done so and we do not believe this result provides a clear mandate for strike action.’
Prime Minister David Cameron said any strike would be futile. He said: ‘These strikes never achieve anything apart from damage - damage to business, to jobs, to the interests of tourists who want to come to visit Britain, and to people who want to leave Britain and have a hard earned holiday.'
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