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British Airways check-in staff at Heathrow vote for strike action – other groups set to follow

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If you think that your chances of flying off for the Summer are already looking dodgy, British Airways check-in staff at London Heathrow have voted for strike action.

It wasn’t exactly marginal, with a 95% ‘yes’ vote on a turnout of 80%.

This only applies to those staff who are members of the GMB union, although as we will explain that is not necessarily going to remain the case.

British Airways customer service staff

You can’t really argue with the basis for the strike.

Check-in staff at Heathrow took a 10% pay cut during covid as part of attempts to minimise redundancies and keep the airline afloat.

With the airline now back to something close to full capacity, staff want the 10% pay cut reversed. They are NOT looking for any pay rise on top of this, despite 9.1% inflation – they only want their pre-pandemic pay restored.

British Airways is offering a one-off bonus of 10% but is not offering to return base salaries to their previous levels.

Other unions are also looking at strike action

The Unite union is also balloting its members at Heathrow for a parallel strike. This vote is due to close on 27th June.

To add to the fun, British Airways engineering and call centre staff are also voting in consultative ballots to assess their own willingness to strike. If the vote is positive, a full strike ballot will follow.

When would a strike happen?

Under UK law, any industrial action must follow a 14 day notice period. (This is why we were happy in the HfP office yesterday, as it means that our Summer party on 6th July cannot now be disrupted by a tube strike.)

It is likely that the unions would wait until the start of the school holidays in order to maximise disruption and to give the airline time to negotiate.

The best way to avoid the strike is to book your BA flights from Gatwick or London City this Summer. The airline uses outsourced staff at these airports and they are not balloting for strike action. That said, any strike by engineering staff would appear to cover Gatwick too.

British Airways staff at Heathrow vote for strike action

We said, they said ….

Nadine Houghton, national officer for the GMB, is quoted as saying on Radio 4:

“BA decided to use fire and rehire very opportunistically during the pandemic to cut our members’ pay and conditions at a time when they are unable to fight back and to defend themselves.

All our members are asking for — and these are primarily low-paid working women working on the front line — is the 10 per cent they had robbed from them during the pandemic back. They’re not asking for a pay rise. They just want the money back that they’ve had taken from them.”

In a statement, British Airways told us:

“We’re extremely disappointed with the result and that the unions have chosen to take this course of action. Despite the extremely challenging environment and losses of more than £4bn, we made an offer of a 10% payment which was accepted by the majority of other colleagues. We are fully committed to work together to find a solution, because to deliver for our customers and rebuild our business we have to work as a team. We will of course keep our customers updated about what this means for them as the situation evolves.”

It doesn’t help, of course, that IAG CEO Luis Gallego is in line for a £4.9 million pay package this year if the group hits its financial targets, as seems likely. There was a revolt against the package at the recent AGM by various institutional shareholders – one of whom called the package ‘excessive’ – but it still passed.

It also emerged that Gallego is given £250,000 per year in expenses to allow him to rent a home in Madrid alongside his existing property in London, given that he shuttles between the two cities.

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Comments (134)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Rich says:
    23 Jun23 June 16:32

    Hi, would Southampton be affected by these strikes or do they also use outsourced staff please Rob?

  • Andrew says:
    23 Jun23 June 17:00

    It was only a year prior to the pandemic that the unions said “BA must … deliver a pay deal that properly reflects its record-breaking profits”. Given the record breaking losses they’re still making now it’s a bit rich to demand a 10% pay rise. At least wait for the airline and industry to get back on their feet.

    • bafan says:
      23 Jun23 June 17:36

      So the staff that are actually should suffer on barely minimum wage when inflation will hit 11%? Get real.

    • Ken says:
      23 Jun23 June 17:46

      I’d prefer bread on the table now than jam tomorrow.
      Does the CEO wait until the airline is back on its feet before trousering £5m a year ?

      The 10% wage cut plus inflation of 9.1% means they are 20% worse off in real term over the last 18 months.

      • Charles Martel says:
        23 Jun23 June 18:06

        Exactly, the demands are clearly reasonable and the management unreasonable. Of all the strikes I’ve superficially read about this is the only one I support.

    • JDB says:
      23 Jun23 June 18:11

      I think the GMB is actually also asking for the back pay, plus changes to conditions.

    • John T says:
      23 Jun23 June 18:44

      How much pay cut is Luis Gallego taking to wait for the industry to get back on their feet?

    • NorthernLass says:
      23 Jun23 June 19:48

      Clearly it’s back on its feet enough to give Luis Gallego 5 million quid.

    • C R Devonshire says:
      24 Jun24 June 09:21

      For hours they did not work. Pay was cut by 10% but so were hours.

    • Andrew says:
      24 Jun24 June 09:28

      If there was no promise (explicit or implied) at the time of the cut that it was temporary then this is a rise.

      My point was that the union can’t have it both ways. If they expect to share in the company’s success then they can’t also demand large rewards if the company isn’t being successfull.

      I fully appreciate that no one wants to be left behind at the moment with soaring inflation but what a certain role earned in the past isn’t really relevant. All that matters is that the pay now is comparable to similar roles elsewhere. Given that BA staff aren’t voluntarilly leaving in droves for the competition it would suggest that the pay is comparable.

      I’d agree that it shows a very poor example for the CEO to be taking such a large pay package given the airline’s current position.

  • George K says:
    23 Jun23 June 17:08

    I’d like to express my full support and solidarity to the workers and the unions. I was caught out by the 2019 strikes and this year I’ve got plenty of trips booked with BA during summer so fully expecting some to go pear-shaped, but I hope that management decides to do the right thing and reinstate the pay across the board.

    Best of luck.

    • Brian says:
      23 Jun23 June 17:14

      Agreed. Great post George

    • Ken says:
      23 Jun23 June 17:24

      Agreed.

    • Alex J says:
      23 Jun23 June 17:47

      Hear hear.

    • Paul says:
      23 Jun23 June 17:57

      For sure

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      23 Jun23 June 18:58

      Agreed

    • NorthernLass says:
      23 Jun23 June 19:53

      Absolutely. BA treats its staff and customers with contempt, frankly. Personally, I’ve become so accustomed to having travel disrupted and cancelled (made more onerous by BA’s antics such as removing the ability to request refunds online and not answering the phones), I’ll be more surprised if my summer travel does actually go to plan!

      • Brian says:
        24 Jun24 June 07:39

        Are you going to stop flying with BA?

        • Mikeact says:
          24 Jun24 June 12:22

          I started a list, months ago, of those who said they would never fly BA again…

          • Brian says:
            24 Jun24 June 15:28

            Funny when people keep complaining about BA and then carry on using it 😂

            (Before someone says there’s no other option. There is. I live near Heathrow and there’s generally an alternative)

    • Graeme says:
      24 Jun24 June 00:03

      agreed

    • Nick Newbury says:
      24 Jun24 June 07:54

      100% agree

    • Londonsteve says:
      26 Jun26 June 11:44

      +1. Hear hear.

  • Richie says:
    23 Jun23 June 17:12

    Can they fly some staff in from Spain to work as check-in staff?

    • Mouse says:
      23 Jun23 June 17:14

      Paying their staff a fair wage would seem to be an easier option

      • Richie says:
        23 Jun23 June 17:28

        That doesn’t stick with the mantra ‘always cut your labour costs’ though.

    • Ken says:
      23 Jun23 June 17:34

      Flying in scabs from Spain, which is no stranger to industrial action and erm ‘Spanish practices’.

      Have you thought about applying to the BA brains trust.

      • Richie says:
        23 Jun23 June 19:06

        I don’t support IAG with regard to how they treat their employees.

      • NorthernLass says:
        23 Jun23 June 19:55

        That phrase, if aimed at the nationals of certain other countries, would not be acceptable, so I’m always baffled that it’s considered ok to use it about the Spanish!

    • Charles Martel says:
      23 Jun23 June 18:10

      EasyJet’s Spanish crew are asking for a 40% uplift so they obviously feel undervalued and in demand.

  • BSI1978 says:
    23 Jun23 June 17:13

    It will be interesting to see/read how many, if any other media outlets flag that they are striking to revert to the position they were in pre Covid; as opposed to simply looking for a pay rise in of itself…..

  • Scott says:
    23 Jun23 June 17:21

    What percentage of staff are older / previous employees rather than newer staff?

    There doesn’t seem to be a major problem attracting staff to various roles (although referencing etc. slows things down), and newer starters would have (hopefully) been aware of the pay they’ve signed up for rather than expecting what others had previously.

    • ChrisC says:
      23 Jun23 June 18:07

      One issue is that the new recruits have been given a sign on bonus but the existing staff haven’t been given a retention payment.

  • Freddy says:
    23 Jun23 June 17:31

    Ronbs explanation for the reason for the strike is actually completely digestible and understandable. Wouldn’t have a clue what the issue is if I purely read what the GMB was ranting and raving about

    • Ken says:
      23 Jun23 June 18:01

      Nadine Houghton of the GMB was on BBC PM today and explained it perfectly.

      What ranting have you seen , bearing in mind the result of the ballot only came out at about 430pm ?

      • JDB says:
        23 Jun23 June 18:07

        She’s been banging on about this for a while. When she talks about the staff just wanting the “10 per cent they had robbed from them” she is actually referring to an agreed pay cut and use of these and other emotive terms don’t help her cause.

        • Erico1875 says:
          23 Jun23 June 18:21

          Agreed paycut or lose your job completely?
          BA used COVID and Furlough to absolutely gut their employees.

        • Ken says:
          23 Jun23 June 18:37

          I’d imagine if you give up 10% of you wage under the threat of losing your job, then you would feel robbed as well.

          Funny how despite the emotive language (women eh !) the actual ballot result was the stunningly in favour.

          • JDB says:
            23 Jun23 June 18:45

            Other BA ground staff and cabin crew, rather more numerous than this group, have already accepted the offer, so they can’t think it’s that bad. A great many workers across many industries took pay cuts and aviation was one of the hardest hit sectors and BA was in survival mode.

          • Mike says:
            24 Jun24 June 08:15

            Surely clearly setting out your case will work better than emotive language which puts off the type of people they need to appeal to.

        • Brian says:
          23 Jun23 June 19:15

          How hasn’t it helped her cause? Have you seen how many voted in favour of the strike?!

          • JDB says:
            23 Jun23 June 19:21

            Winning a union ballot with 95% on an 80% turnout is nothing abnormal. They wouldn’t go to the cost of a formal ballot unless they were going to win big. It is the company and the public/BA passengers who the union needs to get on side. Those seeking the pay rise are already signed up to the cause. GMB and Unite have served their BA members very badly over the years and continue to do so.

          • Brian says:
            23 Jun23 June 19:37

            So how has it not helped her cause? I’m all ears

          • JDB says:
            23 Jun23 June 19:49

            I guess you haven’t troubled yourself to read her numerous press releases then! She comes across as angry rather than serious and that is how she is treated. The dog whistle language she uses as a diversion and the failure to tell the whole story immediately alert the initiated to the paucity of the union’s argument and Unite is no better here. They have both done a rotten job for BA staff over the years. The poor industrial relations can’t all be put at BA’s door.

          • Brian says:
            23 Jun23 June 22:11

            “I guess you haven’t troubled yourself to read her numerous press releases then! She comes across as angry rather than serious and that is how she is treated. The dog whistle language she uses as a diversion and the failure to tell the whole story immediately alert the initiated to the paucity of the union’s argument and Unite is no better here. They have both done a rotten job for BA staff over the years. The poor industrial relations can’t all be put at BA’s door”

            How does any of this not help her cause?

          • Brian says:
            24 Jun24 June 10:21

            “Surely clearly setting out your case will work better than emotive language which puts off the type of people they need to appeal to.”

            Who do they need to appeal to and who has it put off?

  • Ken says:
    23 Jun23 June 17:41

    “There doesn’t seem to be a major problem attracting staff to various roles “

    Are you mad ?

    The last time UK unemployment was this low, I was watching The Magic Roundabout and going to bed at 6:30pm.

    There are vacancies just about everywhere in every sector. Staff turnover for the new starters at airports will be at least 25% as people can walk into another job tomorrow for an extra £1 an hour.

    • Scott says:
      23 Jun23 June 19:14

      Well, I’m looking at MAN in this case. I know a few people who work there.
      Some are still there, others left after / during furlough.
      I’m assuming LHR etc. are the same.

      A good 80% of faces I don’t recognise, and from what is being said, there are large number of new starters every week (some experienced staff have been brought in from other airports to cover the shortfall during referencing).

      Yes, some leave before even starting, and some leave shortly afterwards for something better, but there’s no shortage of applicants. It’s just the time consuming referencing to get full airside passes so that they can board flights, work in baggage, on the ramp etc. (without being escorted 100% of the time) that is the slow part.
      Pay and hours don’t put a lot off. There’s always someone willing to do it.

      At the end of the day, holding onto your experience staff is essential at present.
      It’s all well having 1000 new starters, but if you’ve only 100 people who can actually do the necessary things, they can’t be everywhere as we’re seeing.

      As for BA’s reputation, I don’t think it will matter too much to them.
      Sure it looks bad, they might lose some customers, but like Ryanair, who a lot of people vow never to fly, there are always bums on seats.

      • bafan says:
        23 Jun23 June 20:02

        Why would you assume Manchester and London are the same? It is substantially more expensive to live within commuting distance of LHR.

      • Mike says:
        24 Jun24 June 08:18

        MAN asked for staff in other business areas to volunteer to work security, for example, people from IT were asked to work security.

    • Grr says:
      24 Jun24 June 09:14

      Then if the BA staff dont like what theyre being paid, why dont they just leave? Like how anyone in non union jobs would have to.

      As usual, the unions just want to hold companies to ransom and strike during busy times of the year.

      • Brian says:
        24 Jun24 June 16:15

        They have left. That’s why BA are short of staff and can’t provide a proper service a lot of the time.

        Do keep up

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