Staff at Gatwick Airport will strike for several days this summer.
Almost 1,000 staff members at Gatwick belonging to the Unite union will take strike action across two periods: Friday 28 July-Tuesday 1 August, and Friday 4-Tuesday 8 August. Exact timings vary depending on individuals' shift patterns, but each member of staff will strike for four days at a time.
The staff involved in the strike work in roles including ground staff, baggage handling, dispatchers and check-in agents. They are employed by four companies: ASC, Menzies Aviation, GGS and DHL Services Ltd. As is often the case, the dispute is over pay, and changes in working conditions since large-scale redundancies were made during the pandemic.
Unite claims that "given the scale of the industrial action, disruption, delays and cancellations are inevitable across the airport", with British Airways, Easyjet, Ryanair, TUI, Westjet and Wizz among the airlines likely to be affected.
The strikes fall within the school summer holidays, a very busy time for the airport, and further strikes could follow. Unite is currently balloting staff employed by DHL Gatwick Direct, Red Handling and Wilson James at Gatwick Airport. If these workers vote for industrial action, further strikes could be announced.
Back in June, it was announced that there would be 31 days of strikes at Heathrow Airport over the summer, but those strikes have since been called off.
