Home » UK Employment news » Border Force workers set to stage Christmas strike action

Border Force workers set to stage Christmas strike action

By Nithya Bose in UK Employment news, posted December 24, 2022

Border Force employees become the latest UK workers to hold strike action as rising living costs exceed pay rises.

Around 1,000 passport control workers will go on strike from December 23 to 26, and then again from December 28 to 31.

They will demonstrate at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, and Glasgow airports, as well as Newhaven Port.

Military and civil servants have been drafted at six main airports and at Newhaven Port.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have been at odds with the government for a long time over salary, jobs, pensions, and working conditions.

The Home Office stated that it had been striving to reduce passenger delays.

Heathrow, the UK's busiest airport, said their e-gate passport checking facility would reduce delays however this facility cannot be used by all passengers, especially minors under the age of 12.

This Christmas will be the busiest for airports since 2019 and the first without any coronavirus restrictions.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said despite talks with ministers, an acceptable salary increase had not be agreed on, so strike action was the last resort.

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He said: "The government could stop these strikes tomorrow if it puts more money on the table.

"Like so many workers, Border Force employees are struggling with the cost of living crisis. They are desperate."

Rail strikes, which are set to last from December 23 to December 29, may have an impact on arriving airline passengers.

Thousands of members of Network Rail's Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will walk out on Christmas Eve, causing rail services to stop running at about 1500 GMT.

Source: BBC

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