Airport strikes called off
Planned strikes by airport workers have been called off after talks with the unions yesterday.
Acas issued a statement late in the evening saying a settlement had been agreed between BAA and Unite, Prospect and PCS trade unions.
“As you would expect the details of the deal are confidential until the parties report back to their respective constituencies,” said Acas chief conciliator Peter Harwood.
Details are expected to be announced this afternoon.
The unions will now be balloting their members on the proposed settlement with a recommendation that members vote to accept it.
A BAA spokesperson said: “We are pleased that the basis of an agreement has been reached on pay, that is fair to staff but which also reflects the difficult economic climate.
“Our priority is to work with our people to improve the service we provide passengers and airlines, and we look forward to doing that in the busy weeks ahead.”
The news was greeted with relief from the travel industry.
Bob Atkinson, travel expert at www.travelsupermarket.com, said: “Thankfully, both the BAA and Unite have been able to resolve this dispute knowing that there would be outrage amongst UK travellers if strike action had gone ahead.
“Enough is enough this year and consumers have already had to contend with a range of challenging travel problems in 2010.”
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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