(LONDON) Border Police officers began an eight-day strike across the UK on Friday at six of the country’s biggest airports demanding pay rises, with little disruption despite the busy Christmas weekend.
A thousand members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, employed by the Home Office, have started walkouts at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports as well as those of Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester, and at port of Newhaven in the south of England.
Heathrow and Gatwick airports assured that passport checks had taken place without unusual delays in the morning thanks to the mobilization of the military. A total of 625 soldiers are deployed, according to the Ministry of Defense.
PHOTO PETER NICHOLLS, REUTERS
A notice board warned passengers of possible delays at passport control at Heathrow airport.
This strike is scheduled to last until the end of the year, with a suspension on December 27. The strikers are demanding wage increases as inflation in the United Kingdom reaches almost 11% over one year.
The country is hit by a wave of social protest on an unprecedented scale for decades, the government remaining inflexible in the face of the demands of the strikers.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday “acting in a fair and reasonable manner”. “I want to make sure that we reduce inflation, which means being responsible when it comes to setting public sector wages,” he added, saying he was “disappointed” because of the disruption caused by strikes.
PCS union general secretary Mark Serwotka has warned there will be a “escalation” of the civil servants’ strike in January if the government refuses to negotiate.
“We think the border action is going to be very effective,” he told the BBC.
” If it’s not the case, […] we will support this action until May and we will vote again if necessary,” he threatened.
“Working poor”
This border police strike “is part of that of the public service that I represent. The average annual salary is 23,000 pounds (about 37,500 Canadian dollars). About 40,000 union members have to go to food banks. They are working poor,” said the trade unionist.
Post office workers (Royal Mail) also went on strike, causing delays in mail delivery.
A new Christmas long weekend strike in the UK (Monday and Tuesday are public holidays) is also starting in rail transport, so rail network officials have urged users to only travel if it is “ absolutely necessary” and announced that trains will not run after 3 p.m. on December 24, if at all in some places.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the health sector was hard hit by a strike by nurses and then paramedics, a movement widely supported by the public for a sector very weakened by a decade of austerity and then the pandemic.
The nurses’ union, the Royal College of Nursing, on Friday announced further strikes on January 18 and 19 if the government does not open negotiations.
Health Minister Steve Barclay said he was “disappointed”, while the organization which represents hospitals in England, NHS Providers, called for “serious discussions”, in particular on salaries, “without delay”, between the government and the unions.
On the other hand, the paramedics suspended their walkout day which was scheduled for December 28.
On January 12, the strike will extend to the London Underground when the employees of the Elizabeth Line, inaugurated in May, stop work.