Will departures for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar be disrupted? A strike for better wages is planned from November 18 at Heathrow, the main British hub, while the World Cup begins on November 20. “Workers employed by Dnata (the Emirates Group’s services company) and Menzies at Heathrow will go on strike for three days from Friday November 18, in the context of a dispute over wages,” the union announced in a statement published this week. Friday.
This strike concerns 700 employees and “will lead to disruptions, cancellations and delays”. It “will particularly affect Qatar Airways, which has scheduled ten additional flights per week during the World Cup,” the statement continued.
Strikes multiply in multiple sectors
“We are in discussion with our partner airlines on the contingency plans they can put in place to maintain their ground service if the strike were to take place,” reacted Heathrow. Strikes have been increasing for months in the United Kingdom in many sectors to demand better wages in the face of inflation at more than 10%.
The British airport of Heathrow in London, one of the main in Europe, has experienced numerous malfunctions in recent months, the sector struggling to absorb the recovery in demand in the wake of the pandemic. The spring and summer holiday months were marked by strikes and staff shortages which resulted in endless queues, delays, baggage handling problems and flight cancellations.
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Heathrow also had to cap the number of passengers passing through its facilities each day, a measure lifted on October 30. The airport wants to recruit 25,000 people to be fully operational during future peaks in demand, although it does not expect to return to pre-pandemic traffic levels for several years.