BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT PREPARES TO MINIMISE IMPACT ON HOLIDAYMAKERS OF STRIKE ACTION FOLLOWING REJECTION OF 10.5% PAY OFFER

(Birmingham, UK) - A small number of employees at Birmingham Airport are planning to strike from Tuesday 18 July.

Following negotiations with Unite the Union, Birmingham Airport made a revised pay offer of 10.5% on 11 July, backdated to 1 April. This offer is well above the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation and the UK average pay settlement this year of 6%. 

Despite Unite officials recommending the offer be accepted, it was surprisingly rejected by the union’s Birmingham Airport members.

Following the rejection of this offer, we were very keen to move discussions to the next stage of the process outlined in our established bargaining agreement with Unite, which involves the dispute conciliation service ACAS.  

Mediation is a tried and tested method of resolving disputes, proving successful in nine out of 10 cases. 

However, Unite the Union has been unwilling to postpone, let alone lift, its threatened strike action to enable the ACAS-mediated negotiations to take place under the terms of our bargaining agreement. This means the dispute resolution process has ended without a successful outcome. As such we anticipate strike action from Unite members from 0001 Tuesday 18 July.

To minimise potential disruption caused by the strike action, Birmingham Airport is acting immediately, together with its airline partners, to limit the impact on holidaymakers. 

All customers are being asked to closely follow advice from their airlines on arrival times at the airport. In addition, we are asking customers to put as much hand luggage as possible into the aircraft hold to limit the volume of items subject to pre-flight security checks and so minimise delays.

Should strike action continue through the summer, Birmingham Airport will act to ensure disruption is minimised so customers can still enjoy their well-earned summer holidays. 

It is regrettable that we have reached this position, and we remain committed to resolving this dispute and avoid inflicting damaging strike action on Birmingham Airport customers.

We would urge union members to reconsider their position and continue the collective effort from all colleagues in helping the airport recover from the pandemic and giving customers consistently great service.