Airport staff vote to strike over pay

No decision over the form or date of any strike will be taken before Monday, the workers' union Unite said last night.

But despite only half of the 6,185 Unite staff voting in the ballot, the union's leadership said BAA faced "a total shutdown" of its six airports – Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Of those who did vote, almost three quarters (74.1 per cent) voted for strike action. The Prospect union, which represents around 100 BAA workers based at Heathrow, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Southampton and Stansted airports, said 53 per cent of its members had also voted in favour of strike action.

The earliest a walkout could be called would be Monday, August 23 – just ahead of the bank holiday weekend. Some 300,000 passengers are likely to be hit each day, with the cancellation of more than 2,500 flights for every day of action.

With the Unite members including firefighters and security staff, it would have a devastating effect on UK air travel which has already been hit by a separate dispute involving British Airways' cabin crew, also represented by Unite, and the chaos caused earlier this year by the closure of airspace because of the erupting Icelandic volcano.

Before yesterday's result was announced, David Cameron said a strike would "do nothing but harm" and would damage business, jobs and tourism.

Unite national officer Brendan Gold and the union's national officer for civil aviation, Brian Boyd, said the union would meet its shop stewards on Monday to decide what form of industrial action members would take.

Upset over what they describe as a "measly" pay offer from BAA, the two union leaders said there was still time for them to "get round the table and negotiate" and that it would "not take much" to sort out the dispute.

Asked if the union was trying to ruin people's holidays, Mr Gold said: "That's not our intention."

Asked if he had a message to the travelling public, Mr Gold said he hoped they would want to ask "why BAA has let this run on for four months (without any negotiation)".

Mr Boyd said strike action was a last resort, while Mr Gold said the aim was still to get a "negotiated settlement".

Both men denied any suggestion that the low turnout in the ballot weakened the union's position. "The vote was substantially in favour of strike action among those who did vote," said Mr Boyd.

A BAA spokesman said: "We regret the uncertainty this vote has already caused our passengers and airline customers. We hope that the union will engage with us quickly to conclude an agreement. Fewer than half of those people eligible to vote have done so and we do not believe this result provides a clear mandate for strike action."

Around 220 airlines which operate from the airports would be hit by the action, although some others, such as Manchester which are unaffected, have already entered talks to take on additional capacity to ensure flights go ahead.

A spokesman for budget airline Ryanair said: "Unite must not be allowed to blackmail ordinary passengers or their families by striking during the peak holiday season."

Last night conciliation service Acas said it was arranging a meeting between BAA and Unite. Chief conciliator Peter Harwood said: "We can confirm that Acas will be facilitating an early meeting of the parties once diaries can be cleared."