Uk Airports

[scotwumman]

Some uk airports have strikes scheduled during January - might be worthwhile looking into and changing flight times. If I

was lucky enough to be in Thailand though would extend rather than shorten holiday.

[TEFLMike]

Just heard on the 2pm News in the UK, that the Union is not sriking over and immediately after the holiday. Yhe first strike day is the 9th January. Then the 14th, 17th/18th or 18th/19th.

And the strike days will increas as the managements drag on their heels

[operator]

The dates in the press are "Unite said its members - including firefighters, security and operational staff - will walk out for 24 hours on Jan 7 and Jan 14.

If an agreement is not reached, there will be a 48-hour stoppage on Jan 17."

I'm due to fly out on Eva Air on the 16th from Heathrow. As Eva Air don't fly into Heathrow on a Monday (14th Jan) i'm hoping if the strike goes ahead it won't affect Eva Air. Well here's hoping.

[Governor]

I think this will be a "watch this space" issue, and you might to check the BAA website for updates http://www.baa.com/

I am due to fly into the UK on 16th so should not be affected, but there be a knock on effect from earlier strike days, if the strike goes ahead.

[Governor]

I think this will be a "watch this space" issue, and you might want to check the BAA website for updates http://www.baa.com/

I am due to fly into the UK on 16th so should not be affected, but there be a knock on effect from earlier strike days, if the strike goes ahead.

[peter991]

Britain’s airports may be forced to close with workers’ strike over pension disputes

According to a report by Reuters, last Friday the Unite union announced that pension disputes between seven of Britain’s main airports and its workers have resulted in a strike.

Next month, union members will protest against airport operator, British Airports Authority’s (BAA), final salary-related pension plan which has been closed to new employees.

The protest will take place in three stages including two 24hr strikes on January 7 and 14, 2008. A 48hr strike will also take place on January 17.

Union members include maintenance, clerical and security staff as well as the fire squad.

Seven airports will be affected by the strike including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Glasgow and may be forced to close, said the National Aviation Secretary for Unite, Brendan Gold.

The BAA has announced that they will try to prevent as much disruption to services as possible.

Peter

[peter991]

New Year strikes for Virgin Atlantic cabin crew, AU services as normal

Virgin Atlantic’s cabin crew late last week decided upon two 48-hour industrial actions come January 2008, due to a dispute over pay conditions, but Australian services should operate as normal.

The strikes, which will be the first of its kind in the airline’s history, are set to take place from 0600GMT on the 9th of January and 16th of January.

“I would like to apologise to our passengers whose travel plans may be disrupted and reassure those who are travelling with us that our number one priority is to get them to their destination,” said Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic CEO.

“Our main priority now is to ensure that we can get as many of our passengers to their destinations as possible. We do not want to let them down so we have put in place thorough contingency plans which will enable us to run nine out of ten flights on each of the days affected by the action.”

Virgin Atlantic cabin crews are asking for long term solutions in narrowing the gap between their pay and direct competitors, such as British Airways, whose cabin staff earn as much as GBP10,000 more annually for flying the same routes.

Mr Ridgway had earlier in the week declared, “There will be no 11th hour change to our pay offer.”

Virgin Atlantic is bracing itself to feel disruptions in its services between New York, Chicago, Boston, London and Nairobi.

The airline has announced that passengers who are booked on the flights cancelled due to the industrial actions are permitted to cancel their bookings and receive full refunds regardless of ticket restrictions.

It adds, “For passengers who are flying on the dates affected by the industrial action and who would prefer to rebook their flights for another date they are able to do this subject to availability in the same ticket class.”

It has been reported that the union balloted 3,100 workers of whom 2,102 voted, with 1,497 voting in favour of strike action.

Flights Cancelled:

9 January

Flight No From To / From To

VS25 LHR JFK

VS39/40 LHR ORD LHR

VS11/12 LHR BOS LHR

10 January

Flight No From To / From To

VS25/VS26 LHR JFK LHR

VS39/40 LHR ORD LHR

VS11/12 LHR BOS LHR

16 January

Flight No From To / From To

VS25 LHR JFK

VS39 / VS40 LHR ORD LHR

VS671/672 LHR / NBO NBO / LHR

17 January

Flight No From To / From To

VS25/VS26 LHR JFK LHR

VS39 / VS40 LHR ORD LHR

VS671/672 LHR NBO LHR

The following flights will also be affected as a result:

Departing on Flight No Inbound

11 January VS26 JFK / LHR

18 January VS26 JFK / LHR

Peter

[PhilHarries]

Union members include maintenance, clerical and security staff as well as the fire squad.

Seven airports will be affected by the strike including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Glasgow and may be forced to close, said the National Aviation Secretary for Unite, Brendan Gold.

The BAA has announced that they will try to prevent as much disruption to services as possible.

Peter

It will be interesting to see how they try and achieve minimum disruption. If the fire crew are out the airport is shut, period. And I would think they'd get short shrift from the local fire brigades if they tried to draft in temporary cover using their off duty members. They could do what was done during a strike by the fire brigades a while back. Then they deployed the army fire brigade and their green goddesses (fire trucks) but IMO there's no way they could do that on a large international airport like LHR.

[stiffoak571]

Union members include maintenance, clerical and security staff as well as the fire squad.

Seven airports will be affected by the strike including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Glasgow and may be forced to close, said the National Aviation Secretary for Unite, Brendan Gold.

The BAA has announced that they will try to prevent as much disruption to services as possible.

Peter

It will be interesting to see how they try and achieve minimum disruption. If the fire crew are out the airport is shut, period. And I would think they'd get short shrift from the local fire brigades if they tried to draft in temporary cover using their off duty members. They could do what was done during a strike by the fire brigades a while back. Then they deployed the army fire brigade and their green goddesses (fire trucks) but IMO there's no way they could do that on a large international airport like LHR.

The views of all in UK seems to be that these strikes will run and then the talking will start - no way that the airports will stay open - but all seems silly for one of those esoteric disputes that make no real sense even to the people concerned (53% yes for strike on 30% turnout! - so only 15% of workforce actually want to strike!!)

[operator]

Senior BAA staff trained for security role

Last Updated: 9:58pm GMT 25/12/2007

As a strike by airport workers looms Jonathan Russell reveals that senior managers are being trained to take over from security guards

BAA, owner of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and four other UK airports, has put in place emergency measures to train hundreds of senior managers to maintain security at the airports in the face of planned strikes by security guards and other employees.

The strike has the potential to leave the airport exposed to infiltration by terror groups

The Spanish-owned airport operator has spent the past three weeks training managers to guard the periphery of the airports so that the essential security cordon is not breached by a walkout.

The management training regime highlights the lengths to which BAA directors are going in their attempt to avoid what would prove a highly damaging strike for a company struggling to refinance £9bn of debt and facing a potential break-up at the hands of the Competition Commission.

Although a large-scale strike would almost inevitably lead to the airports' closure to passengers, having managers step in as interim security guards would allow essential maintenance and operational work to continue at the airports.

Senior managers at BAA are understood to be concerned that if the ring of security at checkpoints around airports such as Heathrow is allowed to drop for just a matter of hours it could take weeks to re-establish the areas as secure.

advertisementA spokesman for BAA said: "We are looking at contingency plans but we don't believe the strike is either necessary or inevitable, so we are more focused on resolving the issue than we are on discussing contingency planning in public."

UK airports, especially Heathrow, have long been seen as a target for terrorist attacks. Scares over shoe bombs, liquid bombs and missile attacks have brought chaos to the airport as police and security services have battled to keep the airport safe.

If the special measures are not put in place, the strike by 5,000 employees, including firefighters and security guards, has the potential to leave the airport exposed to infiltration by terror groups.

On Friday, BAA employees voted to strike on four days next month - January 7, 14, 17 and 18 - over a decision by the company to close its final salary pension scheme to new employees.

The planned dispute is part of what is building up to be a month of possible travel chaos for holidaymakers and business travellers. Airline Virgin Atlantic is also facing strike action over pay with two, two-day strikes by cabin crew scheduled on January 9-10 and January 16-17.

In an attempt to avert the strike, BAA is planning meetings with the union Unite over the Christmas period and chief executive Stephen Nelson is ready to become personally involved in the negotiations should that be required.

Union representatives are particularly concerned that the closure of the final salary scheme to new staff is a slippery slope that will ultimately lead to the axing of such arrangements for current members, along the lines of the decisions taken by rat-catching group Rentokil Initial and retailer WH Smith.

The union is understood to be asking for a guarantee that BAA never seeks such draconian action - something the airports operator is currently unwilling to give. BAA may be willing to put some sort of long-term guarantee in writing, though it is unclear for how long.

The BAA board, which in August brought in City troubleshooter Sir Nigel Rudd to quell a summer of discontent over its running of Britain's major airports, is understood to fear the political consequences of a strike.

Under pressure from politicians and the press, not to mention airlines and passengers, the airports operator realises that a damaging industrial dispute would greatly weaken its case for not being broken up by the regulators.