UNITED KINGDOM: Passengers arriving for the London Olympic Games could face long queues at airports after a border staff union calls a strike the day before the Olympics begin

Record ID: 330908

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Passengers arriving for the London Olympic Games could face long queues at airports after a border staff union calls a strike the day before the Olympics begin
  • Date: 19th July 2012
  • Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (JULY 19, 2012) (REUTERS) SECURITY AT ENTRANCE TO OLYMPIC PARK SECURITY FENCE SOLDIER SEEN THROUGH FENCE
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA70JU3R8M3LHAGMJ9KK31IQZ4L
  • Story Text: Passengers arriving for the London Olympic Games could face long queues at airports after a union representing passport officials announced on Thursday (July 19) the date of July 26, one day before the Games begin, for a strike in a dispute over pay and job cuts.
    Airport passport desks around London have struggled to cope in recent months and some passengers have had to queue for several hours to get through immigration checks at Heathrow Airport because of the shortage of staff.
    The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) - one of Britain's most militant - said its members, including border agency and immigration personnel, had backed strike action as part of a row with the interior ministry over job cuts and pay.
    The Olympic Games begin on July 27, and hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected in London every day while the Games are under way, with Aug. 13 predicted to be the busiest day ever at Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport.
    In a news conference on Thursday at the Olympic Park, British Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he believed the strike action would have no effect on the Games, and would be at odds with public opinion.

    "If the unions chose to strike during an Olympic period, I'm absolutely confident that Olympic plans would continue and we'd be able to minimise any disruption, but it would be completely out of line with the mood of the British public." Hunt said, "This is a moment when Britain wants to show it's best face to the world and that is what the vast majority of the public want as well, and I would strongly counsel and unions thinking of disrupting this very important period. I think they would lose huge amounts of public support if they really try to do this."
    Union chiefs announced on Thursday that the strike would take place on July 26, the day before the opening of the Olympics, a move many believe was cynically chosen to cause maximum disruption.
    PCS General Secretary, Mark Serwotka said his union members had no choice but to take industrial action.

    "We have called a strike because our members have been given compulsory redundancy notices, because a private company has been brought in and because people are working at breaking point at the borders. The question here is not one day of disruption at Heathrow, it is the complete wreckage of the service on an ongoing basis which is what the government is presiding over."
    One PCS source said union leaders were actively considering strikes on some of the Games' busiest days of the Games.
    The union says the long delays at Heathrow, caused by a shortage of passport staff, are due to a 22 percent cut in the number of border staff, part of a government cost-cutting exercise to shrink the record budget deficit.
    Some passengers arriving at the airport's Terminal 4 on April 30 had to queue for three hours to reach passport control.
    The union said 20 percent of its members had taken part in the ballot, 57 percent of these backing a strike and 75 percent supporting other forms of industrial action.
    The government, which has drafted in extra border staff to help cope with the Olympic rush, said these figures showed the union had no authority to call any strike.
    The government has already come under fire after private security firm G4S admitted last week it would not be able to train enough security guards in time for the Games, forcing the deployment of 3,500 troops to make up the shortfall.
    British Home Secretary, Theresa May said that what ever was necessary would be done to ensure the security at the Games.

    "We look at our contingency, we monitor the situation all the time, and if necessary we will do what it takes to ensure we have a "safe and secure" Olympic Games. At the moment we have asked for those extra 3,500 military troops to be available for the Olympic Games, we're working with G4S as to the number of people they'll be able to make available. We are focused on delivering a "safe and secure" Olympic Games which means that people are going to be able to enjoy what is after all the world's greatest sporting event."
    London Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe also said on Thursday that he believed the London Olympics would be safe for athletes and visitors.

    "Although this is not an ideal scenario with the G4S not being able to deliver on their contract, the fact that we were able to fall back on a professional military to fill that gap is a great benefit. So we should be confident that we're going to have a secure games." he told a panel at the Greater London Assembly.
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