Hundreds Of Staff At London's Heathrow Airport Will Strike Three Days Starting Friday

Illustration of London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5. (Wikimedia Commons/Mike McBey)

JAKARTA - Hundreds of field staff employed by private contractors at Heathrow Airport, London, England will start a 72-hour strike on Friday.

350 unite union members working for Menzies will strike from 4 a.m. local time.

"Members of Unite at Menzies played an important role in ensuring that the aircraft was operating safely in Heathrow," said union secretary general Sharon Graham, launching The National News November 18.

"Menzies is a rich company and is fully able to pay a decent salary increase to its workers."

"Members of the Unite at Menzies will receive comprehensive support for the union," he said.

Unity said Menzies had made payment offers under the Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation.

"The strike will definitely cause serious delays for passengers at Heathrow, but this dispute is entirely the act of the Minister ofZEs himself," said Unite regional officer Kevin Hall.

"It had every opportunity to get our members an fair salary offer, but stubbornly refused to do so."

"A number of Menzies' colleagues will strike in Heathrow this weekend," said Heathrow's representative.

"The affected airlines already had emergency problems and flight cancellations were not anticipated. We encourage passengers to check their flight status with the airline," he continued.

The scheduled strike involved workers in DNAta being canceled after members received a better offer.

Strikes involving Menzies workers working in cargo and trucks have been suspended, to allow workers to choose better offers, meaning passengers going to the World Cup will not be directly affected by the dispute, Unite said.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement on this salary award, which reflects the enormous respect we have for our employees in the United Kingdom," said Alex Doisneau, managing director of Dnata UK.

"The agreed package, including salary increases and direct support for the short term, provides real support for our employees amid the current cost of living crisis."

"Dnata invests a lot in the UK and we look forward to continuing the journey with our employees, as we focus efforts to strengthen the leading position in the market."