STANSTED AIRPORT: Airport workers vote for New Year strikes

1:02pm Friday 21st December 2007

NEW Year travel chaos is being predicted as workers after Stansted Airport voted for a series of strikes in January, effectively closing the airport.

The series of potentially crippling strikes are set to begin with 24-hour walkouts from 6am on Monday, January 7 and 14, followed by a 48-hour strike starting at 6am on Thursday, January 17.

Staff are unhappy over plans to close the current company pension scheme to new employees, fearing it could be the end of the entire scheme.

Airport operator BAA described the action as "uneccessary" and claimed workers will not be affected by changes to the scheme.

BAA said the airport will have to shut if an agreement cannot be reached before January 7 as some strikers are vital to the safety of passengers, such as the in-house firefighting teams.

A spokesman said: "We do recognise that there are important concerns and these will continue to be addressed through discussions with the unions and staff. We would ask for the understanding of passengers as we work hard to resolve this issue."

Brendan Gold, union Unite's national secretary for civil air transport, said the ballot result sent a strong message to BAA to think again, and reverse its decision.

He said: "It's clear our members' pension scheme is financially sound and should be left alone, however after a series of fruitless meetings with the company our members have been left with no option but to resort to industrial action to defend their interests."

He added: "Our members are conscious of the importance of family and other travel arrangements made by air passengers at this time of year, our quarrel is with BAA and Ferrovial, not with airline passengers so we've avoided taking industrial action during the holiday period."

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