Border police staff began an eight-day strike at Britain’s six biggest airports on Friday to demand a pay rise, raising fears of disruption over the Christmas holiday period.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, employed by the Home Office, began the strike early Friday at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports; also in Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester and also in the port of Newhaven, in the south of England.

Heathrow Airport assured that control was exercised without the unusual wait for dawn thanks to military mobilization and no flights being cancelled.

The strike will last until the end of the year, according to forecasts, with a suspension on December 27. The strikers demanded wage increases as British inflation reached nearly 11%.

The country was hit by a wave of social protest not seen in decades. However, the government was not flexible in dealing with the demands of the strikers.

The secretary general of the PCS union, Marck Serwotka, warned that there would be an “escalation” of civil service strikes in January if the government refused to negotiate.

“We believe that actions on the border will be very effective. We hope the government will do what it has to do, sit down at the negotiating table and provide the money,” he told the BBC.

“Otherwise, (…) we will support this action until May and we will vote again if necessary,” he threatened.

This border police strike “is part of the public service strike that I represent. The average annual salary is 23,000 pounds (26,150 euros). About 40,000 union members have to go to the food bank. They are working poor,” said the union member. . “But the government’s response to its staff (…) was an offer to increase wages by 2%,” he lamented.

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Postal (Royal Mail) workers also joined the strike, causing delays. Another strike will also take place in rail transport.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the health sector was also hit by strikes by nurses and ambulance workers.

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