Unions threaten air chaos strikes
UNIONS are threatening to cause travel chaos in the run-up to the August Bank Holiday with a ballot over strike action against the British Airports Authority (BAA).
The Unite ballot of more than 6,000 firefighters and ground staff at six airports, including Heathrow, is expected to come out in favour of strikes on Thursday after talks failed to resolve a pay dispute.
Unite has said it will move quickly towards industrial action and although the union would have to give seven days notice it would be able to begin strike action in time for the holiday weekend.
A spokesman for BAA said: “We are doing everything we can to prevent a strike, and we are obviously talking with Unite. But as it is firefighters and security staff involved, if strike action went ahead we definitely would not be able to keep any of the airports open.”