Unite, a United Kingdom-based workers union, announced that employees of a refuelling company at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) could go on strike for 72 hours in May, potentially resulting in significant travel disruption during the strike period.
Drastic cuts to terms and conditions of new employees
According to the union’s announcement, the strikes, which would begin on May 4 and last for 72 hours, could result in aircraft being delayed, disrupted, or grounded due to the lack of fuel. Unite said that 50 refuellers working for AFS are planning industrial action after it imposed “drastic cuts to the terms and conditions of new staff recruited since January 2024.”
AFS is a joint venture between several oil and gas companies, including Air BP, Total, Q8 Air, and Valero. Unite accused the company of attacking its most vulnerable staff by offering them reduced pension and sickness benefits after recently employing them.
The union noted that its members are responsible for refuelling aircraft for such carriers as Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines, Air France, Emirates, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, JetBlue, SAS, LATAM Airlines, Air India, China Airlines, avianca, Asiana, SAUDIA, and others. In total, 35 airlines depend on AFS at LHR.
In a statement to Simple Flying, the airport's spokesperson said it was aware of the potential strike and was "...working with AFS to support their robust contingency plans for the airlines they provide fuel to."
“Race to the bottom”
Unite emphasized that staff are furious at the cuts, saying that imposing a two-tier workforce is a potential “race to the bottom” for the AFS workers. Sharon Graham, the General Secretary of Unite, said that AFS was behaving appallingly by attacking the terms and conditions of newly employed staff, alleging that the company views them as the easiest to intimidate.
“Unite will not stand for such bully-boy tactics, and we will be backing our members in their fight for improved pensions and sick pay for all staff.”
Meanwhile, Kevin Hall, a regional officer at the union, added that its members recognize that if they allow the “attack on their conditions to take place,” this will become the norm going forward. As such, Unite will not allow this to happen, standing firm with its members on the picket line.
“AFS will have to answer directly to the airlines and passengers for the disruption caused by their unmerited actions.”
Bank holiday
May 4, a Saturday, is a three-day weekend for Brits, with the UK having a public holiday on Monday, May 6. It's often a chance to get away, but industrial action could take the shine off a hard-earned family trip. Data from aviation analytics company Cirium showed that LHR has 2,671 outbound flights scheduled between May 3 and May 6.
Across the long weekend, airlines have scheduled 583,665 seats, averaging 218.5 seats per departure, resulting in 2.419 billion available seat kilometers (ASK). That's a lot of people and a lot of flights that could see disruption should the parties not be able to come to an amicable agreement.
