Julia Kollewe writes in her article, which is published in The Guardian, about the expected disturbance at Heathrow airport in London as check-in and ground staff voted in favor of a strike during the peak season. About 700 employees belonging to GMB and Unite unions voted to take action against British Airlines. This is because of the employer’s policies in firing and rehiring staff during the pandemic, according to the GMB union.
Taking the matter into this course of action has disappointed British Airlines which incurred huge losses during the pandemic, reports Kollewe. Furthermore, British Airlines assures that the company is committed to working together as a team with the employees and keeping their customers updated about the outcome of this ongoing matter.
“We are fully committed to work together to find a solution, because to deliver for our customers and rebuild our business we have to work as a team. We will of course keep our customers updated about what this means for them as the situation evolves.”
However, the GMB union says that bosses’ salaries and payments are back to the level that they were before the pandemic and the union gives the payment to the chief executive of British Airlines despite rebellion from investors against this payment package of the chief executive. Therefore, the union demands that all employees that received a 10% pay cut would get back this money reversely including the employees who got a 10% bonus. The union blames, in this context, the policies of British Airways, and the GMB union emphasizes the contribution of its members despite the conditions of the job environment at Heathrow due to staff shortage and IT failure. Moreover, the GMB union confirms that it is not late to save peak season for British Airlines.
The strike of British Airlines’ employees coordinates with raised expectations of the number of passengers through Heathrow and with enhanced profitability prognosis of Heathrow compared to the previous year “extremely challenging two years”.