Talks planned to avert pre-Christmas airports staff strike

Talks aimed at preventing strikes by check-in staff, baggage handlers and cargo crew at UK airports are set to be held on Tuesday, it has been confirmed.

Officials from Unite union and Swissport, the world's largest ground and cargo handler, will meet at Acas, the conciliation service announced.

More than 1,500 workers are set to strike for 48 hours on Friday in a dispute over pay and conditions.

Unite said the talks were "clearly a positive development".

General secretary Len McCluskey added: "We are pleased that the company will sit down with us in an effort to resolve this dispute.

"We are confident that our members' case is extremely strong, and that fairness will prevail."

It is unclear how many airports would be affected if the strikes go ahead, but airlines at Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, Newcastle, Heathrow, Stansted and Manchester airports all employ Swissport staff.

Manchester is one of many airports with airlines served by Swissport

A spokesman for MAG, owners of Manchester, Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports, said: "We are aware of this potential action and are contacting the airlines which use Swissport to understand their contingency plans to minimise any disruption were the strikes to go ahead."

A spokesman for Ryanair said: "All of our flights to and from the UK are scheduled to operate as normal.

"Should this action proceed, our flights may operate with hand-luggage only and we will update customers accordingly."

A Heathrow spokesman said the airport expected "minimal impact for passengers" from the action.

Swissport is one of several companies providing ground-staff services in the UK.

'A last resort'

According to Unite, members voted by 62.5% to reject a 4.65% three-year pay deal for 2015-2017, which the union argues "barely" keeps pace with inflation.

It said workers were also angry that "detrimental" changes to terms and conditions had been linked to the pay deal.

Conditions included freezing overtime payments for the foreseeable future and restructuring pay.

Unite said its members were taking industrial action as "a last resort".

Separately, British Airways cabin crew based at Heathrow airport are set to strike on Christmas Day and Boxing Day in a row over pay and conditions.