A strike that could have shut down six British airports on a key holiday weekend was averted on Monday after management offered a new pay deal to workers, both sides said.
Members of the Unite union, including firefighters and security staff, had originally voted by three to one to take action over what they saw as an insufficient pay offer.
There had been fears union leaders were planning to target the three-day Aug. 28 to Aug. 30 holiday weekend, one of the busiest periods of the year for air travel. No dates were announced before the threat of action was lifted.
The strike would have affected London Heathrow, the world’s busiest international passenger airport.
But after a day of talks, Unite’s national officer Brian Boyd said the union was calling off the threat of strikes while workers voted over the next few weeks on a “much improved” offer from management.
“Unite’s negotiating committee will recommend a much improved offer from [airport operator] BAA,” he said in London outside the headquarters of conciliation service ACAS, which helped broker the new deal.
“Details of the agreement will be made public once BAA staff have been advised of the improved offer,” he said.
Peter Harwood, chief conciliator at ACAS, said details of the new pay deal would likely be disclosed yesterday.
The union, whose members agreed to accept a pay freeze amid the downturn last year, had described BAA’s initial pay rise offer of up to 1.5 percent as “measly.”
Aside from Heathrow, any action would have affected London Stansted and Southampton in southern England, and Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen in Scotland.
Following the breakthrough in talks, BAA executive Terry Morgan said the operator was now confident that anyone traveling in the next few weeks would not face disruption.
“We believe that the unions are going to recommend acceptance of our offer to their membership,” Morgan said.
“If that’s the case, then we are very, very confident that any disruption to our airport operations has now been avoided,” he said.
Both sides had come out with a deal they were happy with, he said.
“I think it’s a deal that is a fair reward for our staff, but it’s also a deal that the company can afford,” he said.
British Transport Minister Philip Hammond welcomed the news.
“Passengers will be relieved that they are now able to go on holiday without the fear of disruption from strikes,” Hammond said.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has lodged a protest with Pretoria after the name of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa was changed to the “Taipei Commercial Office” on the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) Web site. In October last year, the South African government asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office, the nation’s de facto embassy, out of Pretoria. It later agreed to continue negotiating through official channels, but in January asked that the office be relocated by the end of this month. As of the middle of last month, DIRCO’s Web
RSS