Border Force staff are to strike over Christmas at Heathrow, Gatwick and several other airports, PCS union says.
Image source, Getty ImagesBorder Force staff are going on strike for eight days over Christmas at Heathrow, Gatwick and several other airports, the PCS union has announced.
Thousands of other civil servants – including driving test examiners – will also be taking industrial action.
PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka said the strikes would “escalate” unless the government was prepared “to put money on the table now”.
He said his union’s members could not afford to put the heating on at home.
The PCS said its members working at Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff airports – whose main duties are to check passports for those arriving in the country – will strike for eight days between 23 December and New Year’s Eve.
Strikes at the Department for Work and Pensions, at the Highways Agency and among driving examiners have already been announced.
Staff at the Rural Payments Agency, which deals with farmers, are also joining the industrial action.
Mr Serwotka said PCS members, such as nurses, paramedics and other public servants, had “no option” but to strike because they are “currently skipping meals, not being able to put the heating on at home because of the poverty they are living in”.