Security guards at London’s Heathrow airport are going on strike for 31 days during the busy summer period to push for wage increases. The Unite trade union announced this.
According to Unite, more than 2,000 security guards will participate in those strikes. The first strike day is scheduled for Saturday, June 24.
The strikes will continue intermittently until the end of August, and Unite says airlines will be hit hard. British Airways, in particular, will have a hard time. Still, companies such as Virgin, Emirates, Qatar Airways, United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines will also experience delays and cancellations, according to the union.
Unite claims that security guards at Heathrow earn significantly less than colleagues at UK airports Stansted and Gatwick. The union says the strikes will continue until Heathrow makes a fair wage offer and Unite fully supports the actions.
There have been several strikes this year at Heathrow, the UK’s largest airport. Security guards at Heathrow also went on strike at the end of March, so dozens of flights could not occur. For example, British Airways, which has the airport as its home base, had to cancel several flights to and from Schiphol. Heathrow was also the scene of strikes during Easter.