Employees of the Border Force, the British border control service, announced a strike at London’s Heathrow airport, the BBC reports. A full three-day strike was announced from 31 August to 3 September, while after that “work according to the rules” is planned until 22 September, which, among other things, implies refusal of overtime. The strike organizer is the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS).
The union announced that 650 of their members will participate in the strike and that they are aware that their action will cause “serious disruptions” in the work of the largest airport in Europe, according to the number of passengers.
The union spokesman states that the strike resulted from a dispute related to inflexible work schedules that began in April of this year, due to which 160 employees left the service. The spokesperson of Heathrow Airport, on the other hand, emphasizes that it is necessary to contact the Home Office as the employer of the services that announce a strike, but emphasizes that they have already gone through strikes in the past and that they plan to minimize the impact on traffic, the BBC reports.
The strike is planned for the period when the British return to their homeland for the start of the school year, i.e. the period when Heathrow traditionally sees heavy traffic.
