Change of plans “workers” happened after the airport management made concessions and offered them to increase their salaries. Security personnel will receive a 10% pay increase retroactively from 1 January. The next increase will be another 1.5% in October.
In 2024, Heathrow is also promising a guaranteed inflation-adjusted salary increase of at least 4%.
Unite, the union representing employees, planning a strike, said its members would vote on the pay agreement in the coming days.
For now, this means that Heathrow will operate as normal on June 24 and 25.
Unite members will vote between June 13th and 23rd. If the management deal is rejected, the rest of the planned strikes will take place.
The protests are affecting Terminals 3 and 5 and are expected to cause major disruption to passengers arriving and departing from the airport.
Strikes are currently scheduled for the following dates this summer:
June: 28–30.
July: 14–16, 21–24 and 28–31.
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August: 4–7, 11–14, 18–20 and 24–27.
The strike dates are not regular. They cover several key travel periods, including the start of the UK school holidays, Eid al-Adha and the August bank holiday.
Previous strikes have only affected Heathrow Terminal 5. This time, Terminal 3 workers are planning to join the upcoming strikes, which will lead to long lines and flight cancellations.
So far, no airline has confirmed the flight cancellations, but the situation remains uncertain.
The strikes at Heathrow were sparked by a wage dispute between the airport and Unite union members. So far, in the course of negotiations, workers have rejected a wage increase of 10.1%, that is, below the inflation rate, which is 11.4%.
According to union leaders, Heathrow is a very wealthy company, and in the summer it will see unprecedented profits and, therefore, “high salaries for managers and huge dividends for shareholders.” And employees at the same time “barely make ends meet, and they are paid much less than employees of other airports.”
Heathrow Airport officials have stated their commitment to minimizing disruption during strikes: “Unite has already tried and failed to disrupt the airport with unnecessary strikes on the busiest days. We are doing our best to protect passengers during any future promotions. The fact remains that most colleagues do not support Unite strikes. Employees are promised pay increases above inflation if only Unite allows them to speak up.
Passengers affected by flight cancellations due to staff strikes may be eligible for compensation, provided they receive notification of canceling a flight less than two weeks before departure.
However, when strikes by airport personnel, border guards or air traffic control are the reason for flight cancellations, they are most often classified as “extraordinary circumstances”. In this case, the payment of compensation depends on the terms of the insurance.
In such cases, affected passengers are entitled to a refund or rebooking on alternative flights, but claims for compensation may not be satisfied.
Those For those who haven't bought a ticket yet, experts advise avoiding Heathrow Airport on these dates. It can be replaced by London Gatwick (LGW), Stansted (STN), Luton (LTN) and City (LCY).