Heathrow Airport bosses and a union have been urged by the Prime Minister's office to reach a deal to prevent “deeply concerning” strikes, planned for the summer.
Security staff at Britain’s busiest airport will walk out on almost every weekend from mid-June to the end of August in a dispute over pay.
The effect of the planned action for passengers over the busy period should be kept to an “absolute minimum”, a spokesman for Rishi Sunak told reporters as he called for a resolution to the row.
Unite, the union, extended planned action to include more days. It said more than 2,000 of its members will strike for 31 days from June 24.
For the first time, security officers based at Terminal 3 will join colleagues from Terminal 5 and campus security in taking protest action.
The new strike dates include the August 25 bank holiday weekend and the beginning of the school holidays on July 28 – periods when passenger numbers are usually high at airports across the country.
Downing Street said the summer strikes would be “deeply concerning for those who have travel plans over that period”.
“Ultimately, it is for Heathrow and the unions to try and resolve the dispute,” a spokesman for the Prime Minister told reporters.
Asked whether the government had plans to draft in the military to fill in for striking security personnel, he said he was not aware of any such contingency measures, adding: “We will obviously continue to monitor it closely.”
Soldiers were deployed to UK airports including Heathrow last December to check passports due to a strike of Border Force workers.
The dates pencilled in for strikes are: June 24, 25, 28, 29 and 30 and July 14-16, 21-24, 28-31. Strikes are also planned for August 4-7, 11-14, 18-20 and 24-27.
Members of the Unite union are embroiled in a long-running dispute with Heathrow over pay.
“Unite is putting Heathrow on notice that strike action at the airport will continue until it makes a fair pay offer to its workers,” said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.
“Make no mistake, our members will receive the union's unflinching support in this dispute. Heathrow Airport has got its priorities all wrong.
“This [Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited] is an incredibly wealthy company, which this summer is anticipating bumper profits and an executive pay bonanza.”
He added: “It's also expected to pay out huge dividends to shareholders, yet its workers can barely make ends meet and are paid far less than workers at other airports.”
Heathrow bosses, in response to the strike announcement, repeated a statement made last week.
They said everything would be done “to minimise strike disruption” and that talks with Unite to resolve the issue would continue.
“Passengers can rest assured that we will do everything we can to minimise strike disruption so they can enjoy their hard-earned summer holidays,” a Heathrow representative said.
“Unite has already tried and failed to disrupt the airport with unnecessary strikes on some of our busiest days and we continue to build our plans to protect journeys during any future action.
“The simple fact remains that the majority of colleagues do not support Unite's strikes.
“There is a two-year, inflation-beating pay rise ready for colleagues if only Unite would allow them to have a say.
“We will continue talks with Unite about resolving this issue.”
