'No disruption anticipated' during aviation strike

Union members have been working to rule with no overtime for the past week

Workers at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are to strike in a dispute over pay - but bosses said there would be no disruption to airlines.

Members of the Prospect union at the organisation's head office in Crawley, West Sussex, will walk out for 24 hours on 6 February.

Union members have been working to rule with no overtime for the past week.

A spokesperson for the CAA said: "We continue to engage with our union colleagues, and after prolonged discussions it is disappointing that Prospect members have voted to take industrial action."

Prospect said a 3-4% pay rise had been imposed on staff, which it complained had not kept pace with other deals in the industry and civil service.

Rachel Curley, deputy general secretary, said: "Despite our ongoing industrial action, the CAA has still not come to the table with an offer our members can accept, so we have no choice but to escalate to a day's strike.

"There is still time to avoid further industrial action which will be damaging for the industry, but the employer needs to restart good faith negotiations.

"This is not an issue that is going to just go away, and if it continues it will start to impact airlines, causing delays to planned upgrades with a knock-on effect felt by passengers."

The CAA spokesperson added: "Prospect members make up around one in five of our employees and we do not anticipate any disruption to the aviation sector, or any impact on our regulatory oversight activities or other safety-critical work, as a result of this action."

Additional reporting by PA Media.