Passengers face significant disruption over the May Bank Holiday weekend as refuellers at Heathrow Airport announce a 72-hour strike beginning Saturday 4 May. The industrial action, called by Unite the union, involves workers employed by Aviation Fuel Services (AFS) who are protesting against what they describe as drastic cuts to the terms and conditions of new staff recruited since January 2024.
Unite claims that AFS is “attacking the most vulnerable new staff” by offering reduced pension and sickness benefits. The union argues that the imposition of a two-tier workforce represents a potential “race to the bottom” for all staff. The strike could affect 35 airlines that rely on AFS for refuelling, including Virgin Atlantic, Delta, Emirates, and Air France.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “AFS is behaving appallingly by attacking the T&Cs of new members of staff – those it views as the easiest to intimidate. But Unite will not stand for such bully-boy tactics.” Unite regional officer Kevin Hall added: “Our members recognise that if they allow this attack on their conditions to take place, before long this will become the norm.”
The May Bank Holiday weekend is one of the busiest travel periods, with Heathrow handling 6.7 million passengers in May 2023. The strike comes on top of other planned industrial action: Border Force workers at Heathrow are set to walk out from 29 April to 2 May over proposed layoffs, with a work-to-rule strike from 3 to 18 May possibly causing further disruption. Meanwhile, Dnata catering workers at Gatwick Airport are planning strikes from 26-29 April, 3-6 May, and 10-13 May, which may affect food availability on easyJet and TUI flights.
