Coronation travel fears as Heathrow staff strike over bank holiday weekend
19 April 2023, 18:46 | Updated: 20 April 2023, 08:38
Heathrow security will walk out again on the Coronation bank holiday weekend - doubling up on travel chaos started by a passport office walkout and risking a perfect storm of disruption.
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Unite have confirmed that 1,400 security officers will strike from 4-6 May as well as on 9-10 and 25-27 May and said it will caused "inevitable disruption" to King Charles's coronation on 5 May.
BA had to cancel 5% of its flights from Heathrow Terminal 5 in a previous strike over Easter which lasted 10 days.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: "We kept Heathrow running smoothly during the first 10 days of Unite's failed industrial action, and passengers can have confidence that we will do so again this time.
"We will not let Unite disrupt the flow of visitors to the UK during such an important period for the country."
Heathrow says it has offered a 10% pay hike and a lump sum but this has been disputed by Unite who has not put any pay offer to its members.
The potential travel chaos comes as more than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union working in Passport Offices in England, Scotland and Wales are currently taking part in action which began on April 3 to May 5.
The Passport Office employs about 4,000 people, so a quarter will not be working.
People whose passports are expiring were urged to get it done before the strike started with an emergency appointment, although these are expected to be booked up quickly.
Passport office workers in Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough and Southport will walk out from April 3 to May 5 while those in Belfast will strike from April 7 to May 5.
The strike was escalated today to include a full walkout on 2-6 May.
The strike has been timed to coincide with one of the busiest times for passport renewals. Last April, some 950,000 people sent in applications to the Passport Office, with 1.25 million renewing in May.
The PCS union said the action was a "significant escalation" of its long-running dispute with the government over pay and conditions, warning it was likely to have a "significant impact" on the delivery of passports as the summer approaches.
