The strike is scheduled to last until the end of the year, with a break on December 27
Border police staff have launched an eight-day strike in the UK at six of the country’s biggest airports demanding pay rises and setting the stage for major air travel disruption over the Christmas holiday period.
Members of the Home Office’s Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union went on strike this morning at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports, as well as Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester and the Port of London. Newhaven in southern England.
Heathrow Airport has assured that checks are being carried out without long waits, thanks to the deployment of the military, and no flights have been cancelled.
The strike is scheduled to last until the end of the year, with a break on December 27. The strikers are demanding a pay rise as inflation in the UK has reached 11%.
The country is hit by a wave of social protest unprecedented in decades and the government remains rigid in the demands of the strikers.
The general secretary of the PCS union Mark Servotka has warned me escalation of the strike in January if the government refuses to negotiate.
“We believe that strike mobilization at the border will be very effective. We hope that, as a result, the government will do the right thing, that they will sit around the negotiating table and that they will put up the money,” he told the BBC.
“If this does not happen, (…) we will support the mobilization until May and put it to a new vote if necessary,” he warned.
The border police strike “is part of the strike mobilizations in the public sector that I represent. The average annual salary amounts to 23,000 pounds (26,150 euros). About 40,000 thousand members are forced to resort to food banks. These are poor workers,” said the trade unionist. “So, the government’s response to this staff (…) is a proposal for a 2% salary increase”.
Royal Mail workers are also on strike causing service delays. Rail transport will also be affected by strike action, while on Tuesday and Wednesday the health sector was disrupted by a strike by nurses and ambulance crews.
RES-EMP
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
