London Gatwick airport to face summer strikes

LONDON

A total 950 workers at London's Gatwick airport plan eight days of summer strike action, a union has said, after seeing the value of pay eroded by high inflation.

Baggage handlers and check-in staff will join other airport workers in striking for four days from July 28 and four days from August 4 in a bid to win higher salaries, the Unite union said in a statement.

"Given the scale of the industrial action, disruption, delays and cancellations are inevitable across the airport," it added, noting that affected airlines included British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair.

Gatwick said it would support airlines "to ensure that flights operate as scheduled".

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said their members working at Gatwick were being paid "a pittance", adding the "union has drawn a line in the sand and is committed to eradicating the scourge of low pay at the airport".

Tens of thousands of private and public-sector workers have been striking in Britain over the past year as UK annual inflation topped ten percent.

While it has eased in recent months, it remains close to nine percent, prolonging a severe cost-of-living crisis.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday urged unions to call off strike action, warning the government would no longer negotiate on higher salaries for public-sector staff including those at the state-run National Health Service.

The government said it had accepted recommendations from independent pay review bodies for salary increases of between 5.0 and 7.0 percent in the public sector.