Holiday travel nightmare as Border Force guards at Heathrow to go on mass strike for four DAYS in row over shifts
BRITS will face four days of travel hell as hundreds of Border Force staff have now voted to walk out.
Holidaymakers travelling through Heathrow Airport will be forced to ride out the chaos in the coming days after more than 600 workers announced they will strike.
The walkout will run for four days from April 11.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCSU) this afternoon announced the strike would go ahead.
The Border Force guards had been considering industrial action after hearing workers’ shifts may change, and had until March 22 to make a call.
They claimed staff’s rosters and shift patterns were looking to be changed, to the anger of workers.
More than 90% of the workers, who carry out immigration controls and passport checks, voted to strike.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote today said: “Ministers have 14 days to withdraw these unfair and unnecessary proposals or our members at Heathrow will take strike action.
“Consultation with staff has been a farce, with our members having little or no choice about the new arrangements.
“Ripping up flexible working arrangements is no way to treat staff especially as the Government says their work is critical to our nation’s security.
“Some members are heartbroken that the Border Force has become ‘unprofessional and inhumane’.
“If the Government is serious about border security, it should look at Border Force officers’ job security, look after its staff, scrap the changes and work with us to protect jobs and working conditions.”
When the staff were in talks about the strike earlier this month, Heathrow Airport told the Telegraph it would work with staff to try to reduce chaos for passengers.
It comes as Brits heading away for Easter have been warned to expect chaos and delays this weekend.
Thousands of UK holidaymakers are expected to be heading abroad this week, with the long Easter weekend.
However, strike action had affected Palma Airport in Majorca, which started on March 22, Travel Weekly reports.
But with a huge influx of travellers expected this weekend, it is expected to cause flight delays and even see passengers miss their flights due to long queues.
TUI has warned of a “potential situation” for any Brits flying to and from Palma Airport.
They said in an email send to customers: “The security screening company, Trablisa, has begun an unannounced strike which is expected to continue until March 31.
“This may lead to longer queues and waiting times at security checkpoints.”
“There is a possibility that your flight could be delayed due to security screening delays.
“We recommend that you factor in additional time for security checks when arriving at the airport.”
'Nothing we can do', admits rail minister
By MARTINA BET
THERE is nothing the Government can do to ensure minimum service levels are implemented during train strikes, the rail minister has admitted.
Huw Merriman said train companies might never use the recently law introduced to minimise the impact of industrial action.
The latest strikes were meant to be the first test of the legislation, aimed at ensuring train operators could run 40% of services.
But none of the train companies used it as they bowed to the pressure of union threats.
Asked what the point of the legislation was, Mr Merriman told the Commons Transport Committee: “Our job is to do everything we can to ensure that minimum service levels can be utilised.
“The decision as to whether they are utilised is one for the employer. And to date, they have determined not to.”
When told train companies are likely to never implement them if they are going to see further industrial action, the rail minister conceded “we will end up with those same decisions” if they “continue to view it in the same way”.
He later added: “There’s nothing that the Government can actually do to force employers to utilise minimum service levels.
“We can only prepare and then sort of put it to them to make that determination, which is exactly what happened.”