London’s Heathrow airport, the country’s largest, hampered for months by staff shortages and had to cut the number of flights this summer, is at risk of being disrupted this week by a strike by fuel supply staff. Employees of Aviation Fuel Services (AFS) will be on strike for three days, from 5 a.m. Thursday morning to Sunday morning, “after rejecting a wage offer” deemed insufficient, the Unite union announced on Tuesday. a statement.
This movement “will cause delays in hundreds of flights”, in particular of the companies “Virgin Atlantic, United, Singapore, KLM, American, Emirates, Air France and Delta” that use the services of this company, adds the organization. According to Unite, these workers “have not received a salary increase for three years, during which they have seen their income fall by 15.5% in real terms”, that is, after the effect of inflation that is triggering in the country and could exceed 11% this year.
“Heathrow is in discussions with (the) airlines about the contingency plans they can implement, including the use of other fuel suppliers present at the airport,” Heathrow responded in a statement. The airport lightened its summer flight schedule a week ago due to a staffing shortage affecting the sector as demand picks up after massive layoffs during the pandemic.
Thousands of flights canceled
Heathrow was criticized by Emirates, which rejected the requested cancellations but finally agreed to limit ticket sales from the airport until mid-August. Other companies such as British Airways, Wizz Air or Easyjet had already canceled thousands of flights scheduled for this summer to stagger their programs with their reduced capacities.
Discontent is growing in the country in the face of inflation, which eats away at purchasing power, and announcements of strikes are multiplying in many sectors. British rail workers staged their biggest strike in 30 years in late June and will strike again over the summer. There have also been strikes in recent weeks between criminal lawyers or postal workers.
Des débrayages pourraient also avoir dans la fonction publish alors que des annonces d’augmentations sont attendues mardi, notamment dans l’enseignement ou la santé, with a chiffre of 5% de hausse que circulale dans la presse et se trouve déjà dénoncé par unions. However, a strike notice among British Airways ground staff at Heathrow airport was called off in early July after unions found a pay offer satisfactory.
Source: BFM TV
