Travellers Face Strikes at Gatwick

Travellers face severe delays at Britain's second biggest airport over the August public holiday weekend after more than 300 baggage and check-in staff voted to strike over pay.

Staff at London Gatwick Airport plan to walk out on the August 25 public holiday and again on August 29 after rejecting a pay offer from airline services firm Swissport.

A spokesman for Swissport said it was too early to estimate the level of disruption, but added that the company thought it had made a fair pay offer and would now work at minimizing disruption for the traveling public.

He said it was not yet clear whether pay negotiations with the union were continuing.

Gatwick-owner BAA, the airports operator owned by Ferrovial, said it was looking at contingency plans in the event of the strike going ahead.

"Our aim is to minimize the disruption," a spokeswoman said.

Trade union Unite said in a statement Swissport offered a pay increase of 3 percent backdated to July, compared to the union demand of over 5 percent.

"Our members are already struggling to keep up with rising food and energy costs. This pay offer is an insult," officer Steve Turner said.

Workers at London Stansted Airport will vote on whether to join the strike later on Friday.

BAA owns Heathrow as well as Gatwick and Stansted. The company's monopoly control over the three main London airports is currently under investigation by the UK Competition Commission.

(Reuters)

17 August 2008