LONDON — Travel plans across the UK in the days before Christmas could be affected if plans for a strike at the country's three busiest airports go ahead.
Staff at air service provider dnata in Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester airports have backed plans for walkouts in protest over a pay dispute.
The company has offered a 2.2% increase; staff are unhappy because supervisors at the company were given a 4.5% pay hike.
Workers from the Unite trade union who voted for strike action on Dec. 23 and 24 include check-in staff, aircraft push back drivers, loaders and HGV drivers. The company is one of the biggest ground and cargo handlers in the three airports.
Airlines served by dnata include Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Iran Air, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airways, New Zealand Airways, Pakistan International Airlines, US Airways, Eva Air, Qantas Airways and Oman Airways.
Staff are urging the company to enter conciliation talks to resolve the dispute.
Dubai-based dnata, one of the largest air services providers in the world, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. In May, it recorded profits of $1.1 billion, its 26th consecutive year of profit and company growth.
Here's what the airports are saying about it:
“A small number of staff at dnata, which provides ground handling and check in services to some airlines at Heathrow Terminals 2, 3 and 4 have announced their intention to take strike action on Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th December. Dnata has contingency plans in place to minimise disruption for passengers," a spokesperson said in statement sent to Mashable.
“Heathrow will have extra staff on duty to support passengers with their journey. Passengers should allow plenty of time for travelling through the airport and speak to their airline if they have any concerns.”
"Any strike action would only affect a very small number of cargo handlers and no passengers would be affected," a spokesperson for Gatwick Airport told Mashable.
A spokesperson told Mashable it would not be commenting at this time, and that it was an issue for the airlines involved.