Travelers were warned that they might face delays, while Gatwick and Heathrow airports confirmed that their immigration halls were operating as usual on Friday after the government hired members of the armed forces and civil servants.
Travelers were warned that they might face delays, while Gatwick and Heathrow airports confirmed that their immigration halls were operating as usual on Friday after the government hired members of the armed forces and civil servants.
On Friday, about a quarter of a million passengers are expected to arrive at the six airports covered by the strike that precedes the Christmas weekend, which falls on the weekend, in the latest series of strikes carried out by public sector workers to demand better wages.
The strike, organized by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, took part in about 1,000 workers at Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester and the southern port of Newhaven.
The strike is the first of eight strikes held daily between Friday and January 1, with the exception of December 27.
Strikes of nurses and ambulance crews
The move comes in the wake of strikes organized this week by nurses and ambulance crews to protest the government’s refusal to increase their wages, which have remained the same for years in the midst of a cost of living crisis that has led to a rise in inflation to nearly 11%.
On Friday, the Royal Society of Nursing (RCN) announced that nurses would strike again on January 18 and 19.
Mark Sirotka, Secretary General of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said that many border police employees are suffering from the cost of living crisis. “Forty thousand of our members use food banks. Forty-five thousand of them are demanding better working conditions. They are working poor,” he told BBC radio.
He explained that the dispute also includes pensions and job security.
The past year has seen strikes in a range of sectors, from dock workers to lawyers, after decades-high inflation slashed purchasing power.
Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, expressed his “sadness and disappointment” over the border police’s move forward but stressed that the government would not acquiesce in strikes.
He said, “I think we all know that the biggest economic challenge we all face is inflation. It is inflation that gnaws at everyone’s salaries,” stressing his keenness to “reduce inflation.”
Meanwhile, mail delivery employees of the Communications Workers Union (CWU) also went on strike Friday for the fifth time this month. The National Highways workers responsible for motorways and major roads in London and southeast England on Friday also continued their four-day strike, which began on Thursday.
For their part, the railway workers will start another strike from 6 pm on Friday until 27 December.
On Saturday, some London bus workers and Environment Agency staff will go on separate strikes.
The General Confederation of Trade Unions (GMB) announced that the ambulance crews’ strike, scheduled for December 28, had been suspended on Friday.
