Heathrow faces pre-Christmas baggage handlers strike

Pre-Christmas travellers using Heathrow airport later this month face disruption after baggage handlers voted to strike from 16 December.

The 72-hour strike action will affect flights operated by 10 major airlines from Heathrow Terminals 2, 3 and 4.

The dispute centres around a pay offer made to cargo workers but which has not been extended to baggage handlers.

The Unite union said ground-handling workers at Menzies Aviation have not received a "fair" pay offer.

"Menzies has made a fair pay offer to one group of its workers but isn't prepared to make a similar offer to its ground handlers," said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.

Menzies has been contacted for comment.

Airlines that are likely to be affected by the three-day strike are Air Canada, American Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Air Portugal, Austrian Airlines, Qantas, Egypt Air, Aer Lingus and Finnair.

The dispute involves 350 workers employed by Menzies who were offered a lower pay deal than cargo workers employed by the company less than half a mile away at Heathrow.

Cargo workers were offered a 9.5% pay increase backdated to May 2022 and a further 1% from January 2023, the union said.

"The Menzies ground handlers have been offered a flat rate increase which for all the workforce amounts to a real terms pay cut while the real inflation rate (RPI) currently stands at 14.2%," the union added.

The action follows a similar dispute in November when a three-day strike hit passengers at the airport.

The strike would have been more widespread with twice as many ground-handling staff planning to walk out last month until rival transport handling company Dnata agreed an improved pay offer for its 350 workers at Heathrow.