People queue at UK border control at Heathrow Airport. Border Force staff are due to strike for three days at the end of May. Getty Images
People queue at UK border control at Heathrow Airport. Border Force staff are due to strike for three days at the end of May. Getty Images
People queue at UK border control at Heathrow Airport. Border Force staff are due to strike for three days at the end of May. Getty Images
People queue at UK border control at Heathrow Airport. Border Force staff are due to strike for three days at the end of May. Getty Images

Passengers to be hit by further strike action at Heathrow


Matthew Davies
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Border Force workers at Heathrow are set to go on strike for three days at the end of the month, potentially causing delays to passengers' journeys.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said staff in terminals 2, 3, 4 and 5 would walk out on May 31, June 1 and 2, as they continue their protest over changes to their working conditions.

Border Force workers, who are employed by the Home Office not Heathrow Airport, will also refuse to work overtime for three weeks from June 4, to express their opposition to changes in their roster system.

“We are keen to resolve this dispute but the Home Office must first put something on the table for our members to consider,” PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said.

“The Home Office has said it is ‘open to discuss’ a resolution but it only responded to our request for a meeting after we threatened further action.

“Until it comes back with changes to the roster that will benefit our members then the dispute will continue.”

A spokesperson for Heathrow told The National that the airport is “working closely alongside [the Home Office] to mitigate any potential disruption to passengers”.

More than 300 Border Force workers walked out in late April and early May in four days of industrial action.

Munich International Airport, where activists blocked a runway in protest at the German government's environmental policies. Reuters
Munich International Airport, where activists blocked a runway in protest at the German government's environmental policies. Reuters

Munich airport closure

Meanwhile, Munich airport was closed for several hours on Saturday after climate activists gained access to a runway as part of a campaign calling for more government action against greenhouse gas emissions.

Activists from Letzte Generation, or Last Generation, said they had blocked the runway before flights started their regular daily schedule.

The group often stages protests and sit-ins on roads in Germany to call for more action to lower harmful emissions.

In previous years, activists have disrupted take-offs and landings at Munich and Berlin’s main airports after several of them glued themselves to runways.

Decades of flight: Heathrow through the years - in pictures

Global Fungi Facts

• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
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• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk

“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”

“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”

“One good thing is to know you’re not the only one going through it. You’re not the only one trying to find your way, trying to find yourself, trying to find amazing energy, trying to find a light. Show all of yourself. Show every nuance. All of your magic. All of your colours. Be true to that. You can be unafraid.”

“It’s time to stop holding back. It’s time to do it on your terms. It’s time to shine in the most unbelievable way. It’s time to let go of negativity and find your tribe, find those people that lift you up, because everybody else is just in your way.”

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Updated: May 20, 2024, 7:01 AM`