Passengers to be hit by further strike action at Heathrow

As UK Border Force employees prepare for a three-day walkout, Heathrow says it is working to mitigate any disruption to passengers

People queue at UK border control at Heathrow Airport. Border Force staff are due to strike for three days at the end of May. Getty Images

Border Force workers at Heathrow are set to go on strike for three days at the end of the month, potentially causing delays to passengers' journeys.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said staff in terminals 2, 3, 4 and 5 would walk out on May 31, June 1 and 2, as they continue their protest over changes to their working conditions.

Border Force workers, who are employed by the Home Office not Heathrow Airport, will also refuse to work overtime for three weeks from June 4, to express their opposition to changes in their roster system.

“We are keen to resolve this dispute but the Home Office must first put something on the table for our members to consider,” PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said.

“The Home Office has said it is ‘open to discuss’ a resolution but it only responded to our request for a meeting after we threatened further action.

“Until it comes back with changes to the roster that will benefit our members then the dispute will continue.”

A spokesperson for Heathrow told The National that the airport is “working closely alongside [the Home Office] to mitigate any potential disruption to passengers”.

More than 300 Border Force workers walked out in late April and early May in four days of industrial action.

Munich airport closure

Meanwhile, Munich airport was closed for several hours on Saturday after climate activists gained access to a runway as part of a campaign calling for more government action against greenhouse gas emissions.

Activists from Letzte Generation, or Last Generation, said they had blocked the runway before flights started their regular daily schedule.

The group often stages protests and sit-ins on roads in Germany to call for more action to lower harmful emissions.

In previous years, activists have disrupted take-offs and landings at Munich and Berlin’s main airports after several of them glued themselves to runways.

Decades of flight: Heathrow through the years - in pictures