Signal as much as Simon Calder’s free journey e mail for skilled recommendation and money-saving reductions
Get Simon Calder’s Journey e mail
Fifty plane refuellers working at Heathrow airport will strike for 72 hours from 4 Might, that means potential chaos on one of many busiest journey intervals of the yr.
The motion, a part of a dispute over phrases and circumstances for brand new workers, has been timed to hit travellers over the early Might financial institution vacation.
These collaborating are members of the Unite union working for AFS Aviation. The union says they refuel plane for 35 airways at Heathrow, together with Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and Air France, and warns the strikes “are prone to result in extreme disruption to airline providers for passengers”.
AFS Aviation additionally providers the three greatest US airways – American, Delta and United – in addition to Air Canada and Singapore Airways.
The dispute is over decreased pension and illness advantages for brand new workers recruited because the begin of the yr, resulting in what the union calls a “two-tier workforce.”
The Unite common secretary, Sharon Graham, mentioned: “AFS is behaving appallingly by attacking the T&Cs of recent members of workers – these it views as the best to intimidate.
“However Unite won’t stand for such bully-boy techniques and we can be backing our members of their struggle for improved pensions and sick pay for all workers.”
Unite regional officer Kevin Corridor added: “Our members recognise that if they permit this assault on their circumstances to happen, earlier than lengthy this can turn out to be the norm. Unite gained’t permit that to occur and is standing agency with our members on the picket line.
“AFS should reply on to the airways and passengers for the disruption brought on by their unmerited actions.”
Sources at Heathrow say contingency planning is going down. British Airways, which operates greater than half the flights from Heathrow, has its personal fuelling service and is unaffected.
The Unbiased has requested Virgin Atlantic and Emirates for remark.
The same 72-hour strike was known as by the Unite union involving the identical team of workers in July 2022, over a peak summer season weekend. However the dispute was settled earlier than the motion began after an improved pay supply was made.
