UK Border Force staff begins strikes at airports, passengers warned of disruptions

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) – Border Force staff at UK airports joined strikes across the country on Friday, with hundreds of thousands of air passengers being warned of possible disruptions in the coming days, including the holidays.

The strikes, set to take place from Friday over the Christmas weekend until Monday, Boxing Day, and again on Dec. 28-31, through New Year’s Eve, will be felt at London airports Heathrow and Gatwick, as well as Birmingham and Manchester plus Cardiff, Wales and Glasgow, Scotland.

The Border Force strike is being mobilized by the Public and Commercial Services Union, which is demanding a 10% pay increase, “pensions justice,” job security, and no cuts to redundancy terms.

The union’s Mark Serwotka previously warned the government: "Like so many workers, our members are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. They are desperate. They are being told there is no money for them, while they watch ministers giving out government contracts worth billions of pounds to their mates."

He also told BBC Radio 4’s Today on Friday: "We have a strike fund, that means we can sustain this action after Christmas. The strike mandate lasts right up until May – we will be supporting this action until May and we would re-ballot again if we have to.”

About 625 military personnel will be deployed to the UK's busiest airports to provide support to cushion the impact of the walkouts.

Civil service volunteers will be made available to do some border checks as well.

Royal Mail staff will also go on a two-day strike, including members of the Communication Workers Union who collect, sort, and deliver parcels and letters.

Disruption of most train journeys is also set to continue, as the members of the UK's biggest rail union RMT are due to strike starting on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, through early on Dec. 27 after it rejected a pay offer from Network Rail.

Britain is currently experiencing a wave of industrial action, including those from nurses, postal workers, and university lecturers, sparked by a bitter cost-of-living crisis triggered by soaring inflation and a deteriorating economy.