Bournemouth Airport strike action suspended

Members of the Unite union have been preparing to strike twice in September

Strike action planned by about 100 members of the Unite union at Bournemouth Airport has been suspended.

The action was originally expected to take place from Friday until Sunday and then again on Sunday 14 September.

A spokesperson for the airport said Unite had since confirmed the strike over pay would no longer go ahead while it put an improved pay offer to its members.

They added: "The airport will be fully operational on these dates and passengers should check in as normal."

The first strike was set to involve workers in roles like baggage handling, check-in, flight dispatching and plane fuelling who rejected a 5% rise for the lowest paid and 4.5% for higher paid members.

The second on 14 September included those working in the fire service at the airport who are part of a different union bargaining agreement but have rejected the same offer.

Unite previously said the dispute was about the rate of inflation being used to calculate the pay offers. The union said it would be fairer to use the RPI (Retail Price Index) rate rather than CPI (Consumer Price Index), which is lower.