Workers at Heathrow Airport belonging to the Unite trade union have taken strike action today over what it calls “fire and rehire policies that will result in workers suffering permanent pay cuts of up to...25 per cent of their take home pay”.
The strike action, which Unite says is backed by 84 per cent of the union’s members at the airport, involved firefighters, engineers, campus security, baggage operations, central terminal operations, landside and airside operations.
Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: “Workers face losing their homes and surrendering their cars due to the savage cuts being imposed on them. These cuts are all about greed and not need.
“Heathrow Airport Limited and [Heathrow CEO] John Holland Kaye are guilty of using the Covid pandemic as cover for forcing through long held plans to cut pay. If this was genuinely about the pandemic any cuts would have been temporary.”
The airport has said it had continued to “operate safely and with minimal impacts” and that it was disappointed that the union has decided to take action “during the worst crisis to hit the aviation sector”.
It said, “We believe we are the only business in the UK's aviation sector to commit to offering a role to all our frontline colleagues, thus avoiding compulsory redundancies. Our final proposal meets this commitment - providing a job for every one of our frontline colleagues that wants one, at market rates and above the London Living Wage.”
“However, to make this possible we’ve had to make the difficult decision to correct historical inequalities in pay as a result of legacy contracts. These legacy contracts have seen some colleagues over time be paid up to 30 per cent above market value and significantly more than their counterparts doing the exact same role.
“In order to secure a job for all colleagues, we have therefore proposed a structure where everyone is paid fairly at market value for their roles across the board. Put simply, this is about ensuring the market rate pay for everyone, for the same job.”
The airport said it was offering affected employees a “buydown” scheme which would protect their current salary for two years. Those facing cuts of more than 10 per cent have been offered a “generous” voluntary severance scheme as an alternative.
It says more than 4,500 employees have chosen the new terms and 364 have chosen voluntary severance.
The union says it plans further strikes on Monday 14 December and then a two-day stoppage on Thursday 17 December and Friday 18 December.