Border Force staff at airports in UK has gone on a mass strike over better pay and working conditions. Airlines and airport authorities have warned international passengers about long delays due to the strike.
More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union which normally check passports will strike from 23 December until the end of the year, with the exception of 27 December 2022.
Workers have walked out, affecting passport control desks at Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, and Glasgow airports, as well as the port of Newhaven in East Sussex.
Military personnel and volunteers will be standing in for the striking workers and the UK Home Office, which is responsible for the Border Force.
This will be the busiest Christmas for airports since 2019, and the first without any pandemic restrictions. More than 10,000 flights are scheduled to land at those airports during those times and around 250,000 passengers are expected to face delays.
The affected airports have indicated that most departing flights should not be affected, with only some arriving passengers mostly those who cannot use e-Gates might face delays.
The Head of Union Mark Serwokta while speaking to the BBC has warned that the strikes might go on for long unless the government agrees to negotiate. "Not only could it be six months, I think in January what you will see is a huge escalation of this action in the civil service and across the rest of the economy unless the government get around the negotiating table," he said
Expressing concern about the on-going strike Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused to negotiate on public sector pay claiming that it is the right thing in the long run to curb inflation.