By IRNA,
London : Millions of airline passengers face the prospect of more travel disruption following a vote by firefighters, security guards and ground staff at London Heathrow and five other airports over a pay dispute.
The result of a ballot of more than 6,000 workers at airports operated by the British Airports Authority (BAA) is not expected until Thursday, but their union, Unite, has warned it will move swiftly towards industrial action if members vote in favour.
Security staff and firefighters have the power to close airports because of the requirements for minimum staffing. The prospect is that some of the airports could be forced to shut by the August bank holiday at the end of the month.
Air passengers in Britain have already faced a total of 22 days of strikes this year due to a dispute by British Airways cabin crews over changes in pay and conditions that remains unresolved.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has appealed to both sides in the latest dispute to seek a resolution that does not cause travellers more “stress and concern”.
BAA runs Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports as well as Heathrow, which together handle more than 300,000 passengers a day.
It has already said its pay offer of 1%, plus another 0.5% if certain conditions are met, is “reasonable”, given the effects of recession and the volcanic ash cloud crisis earlier this year, but this has been rejected by Unite staff members.