Business travellers heading through London Stansted over the May bank holiday have been spared a wave of disruption after planned industrial action by passenger assistance staff was suspended at the eleventh hour.
Around 100 Unite members employed by ABM, the contractor responsible for supporting passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility at Britain’s fourth busiest airport, had been due to walk out from Sunday 3 May until Tuesday 6 May. The stoppage threatened to slow boarding times across the long weekend, one of the busiest short-break periods of the spring travel calendar.
The dispute, which centres on pay and what the union describes as a sharp rise in workloads, has been paused after fresh talks between Unite and the company. Members will now be consulted on a revised offer in a ballot expected to conclude in the coming days.
Steve Edwards, Unite regional officer, confirmed the climbdown. “After talks, we have suspended upcoming industrial action to allow members to have their say and vote on a deal,” he said.
The suspension will come as a relief to corporate travel managers and airline operations teams alike. Stansted carried more than 29 million passengers last year and is a key hub for low-cost carriers serving European business routes, with Ryanair, Jet2 and easyJet all operating significant bank holiday schedules from the Essex airport.
Passenger assistance staff play a critical role in airport operations, escorting travellers with reduced mobility from check-in through security and onto aircraft. Industry sources have warned that any disruption to the service has a disproportionate knock-on effect on punctuality, as boarding cannot be completed until every assisted passenger has been safely seated.
Unite has stepped up its activity across the UK aviation sector in recent months, with a series of disputes over pay erosion and staffing levels at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham. Should ABM members reject the latest offer, fresh strike dates could yet be tabled later in the summer peak.
For now, however, business travellers booked through Stansted this weekend can expect operations to run as normal.