Birmingham Airport prepares to cope as strike action looms

The airport says it believes a small number of employees will be taking the action.

Following negotiations with the union, the airport made a revised pay offer of 10.5 per cent on July 11, backdated to the start of April.

UPDATE: Birmingham Airport strikes suspended following last-minute talks

The airport said the offer is well above the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation and the UK average pay settlement this year of six per cent.

"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 12.01 am on Tuesday, July 18," the airport said in a statement.

To minimise potential disruption caused by the strike action, the airport has acted 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, the airport is asking passengers 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," the airport said.