In May 2023, over 1,400 security guards at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) want to go on strike for eight days over salary.
The following dates, May 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10, as well as May 25, 26, and 27, are targeted for industrial action by the security personnel, who are all members of Unite, one of the largest unions in the UK.
The Royal coronation on May 6, 2023, and the Spring bank holiday on May 29, 2023, both fall on long weekends as a result of the dates. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said in a statement and a tweet that “yet again, we have a chief executive in John Holland-Kaye who thinks it is acceptable to boost his earnings by an eye-watering 88 percent, from £800,000 to a staggering £1.5 million, while he denies his own workers a decent pay rise.”
With more employees being put to the vote and disruption expected to last the rest of the summer, Graham continued, “This dispute is bound to escalate.” Although strikes the next month will inconvenience travelers even more, this conflict is a direct outcome of Heathrow’s obstinate unwillingness to make an offer that satisfies the needs of our members.
Our members have made it abundantly apparent that they want a sizable permanent pay raise. The financial challenges that our members are dealing with on a daily basis will not be relieved by a little one-time lump sum payment, Unite regional coordinating officer Wayne King stated in the same statement.
“While the CEO can live the luxury lifestyle of a millionaire, our members find it difficult to make ends meet and put food on the table. Need, not greed, is at stake here, King continued.
Over Easter, the 1,400 security guards went on a 10-day strike as well. According to the union, “hundreds” of flights had to be canceled.
In the meantime, London Heathrow informed Travel Weekly that it would not permit Unite to obstruct the flow of tourists into the UK “during such an important period for the country”.
The Royal Coronation is scheduled to draw over 2,200 attendees, most of whom will be dignitaries and world leaders who will travel to London from all over the world.
