British Airways staff at London’s Heathrow vote to strike over pay

© Reuters/HANNAH MCKAY FILE PHOTO: British Airways planes are seen at the Heathrow Airport in London

LONDON (Reuters) – British Airways staff at London’s Heathrow voted on Thursday in favour of a strike for better pay, threatening disruption at Britain’s busiest airport during an already chaotic summer for air travellers.

The GMB union said 95% of those British Airways (BA) staff at Heathrow airport who voted chose to carry out a strike after BA failed to meet their demands for a 10% pay cut imposed during the pandemic to be rolled back. Around 700 workers had been balloted, of which 80% voted.

© Reuters/JOHN SIBLEY FILE PHOTO: British Airways tail fins are pictured at Heathrow Airport in London

Dates for the strike are likely to be during the peak summer holiday period, GMB said. Workers must give two weeks’ notice to BA before carrying out any strike.

Air passengers across Europe have already faced delays and cancellations of hundreds of flights in recent weeks as airports struggle to cope with a shortage of trained staff and strong post-pandemic demand.

Any strike by Heathrow staff is likely to add to the pressure.

Representatives for British Airways, owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“BA have tried to offer our members crumbs from the table in the form of a 10 per cent one off bonus payment, but this doesn’t cut the mustard,” GMB National Officer Nadine Houghton said in a statement.

“GMB members at Heathrow have suffered untold abuse as they deal with the travel chaos caused by staff shortages and IT failures.”

Meanwhile, demand for air travel showed little sign of slowing as Heathrow separately on Thursday raised its forecast for annual passenger numbers to 54.4 million from 53 million previously.

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar and Farouq Suleiman; editing by William James)