UK Border Force has not ruled out strikes by border staff in the February half-term and could cap inbound arrivals at 70%-80% of pre-Covid levels in the event of strikes over Easter.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union today confirmed that 1,000 Border Force officers in Dover, Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk are to go on strike for four days on February 17-20 but did not mention Easter.
Border Force director general Phil Douglas revealed the plans at the Airport Operators Association (AOA) conference in London on Tuesday, ahead of strikes by Border Force staff today (Wednesday) and Thursday of this week.
The strikes will affect all airports and ports handling international arrivals, unlike the six days of strikes over Christmas, which were limited to Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff and the port of Newhaven, East Sussex.
EasyJet warned passengers preparing to fly to the UK that passport queues may be longer than usual due to the Border Force action until 7am on February 2.
The airline said: “The airports and government are working hard to make your arrival as smooth as possible but please make sure you have what you need to make the wait easier such as charged phones and any essential medication.”
Jet2 said: “We just wanted to remind you that there are planned Border Force strikes taking place from Wednesday 1st February until Thursday 2nd February 2023 at 7am. All our flights are planned to operate as normal.”
Douglas told the AOA: “If not for contingency planning with the industry we wouldn’t have managed to keep borders open.”
But he said: “[Wednesday] will be more challenging because all PCS [union] members have been called out. We’ve confidence in our plans but, of course, there will be disruption and queues.”
He warned: “We’ll have further industrial action without a doubt.
“The unions have a mandate for action until mid-May and we expect them to use that.”
He noted unions must give 14 days’ notice of strikes and said: “We haven’t entirely ruled out half-term being affected by strikes.
“We had to ask airport operators to suppress demand at 70%-80% of pre-Covid levels at Christmas. We didn’t need to do that for [this week], but I don’t rule out having to do that if there are strikes at peak periods.”
A “contingency border workforce” of civil servants and the military was due to again be mobilised this week.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Our members perform vital roles. We therefore expect our strikes today will have a massive impact on public services.
“And the strikes we have announced today in the Border Force will impact on people returning from their holidays during the half-term period.
“For while the government brought untrained military personnel in to replace our highly-skilled and experienced officers in airports over Christmas, they won’t be able to do that in France.
However, Douglas had potential good news for families with children aged 10-11 travelling this summer, announcing trials allowing this age range to access e-gates at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.
E-gates are currently only available to those aged 12 and over.
Douglas explained: “We [haven’t yet allowed] children under 12 to use e-gates because their faces change as they grow up, and also because of safeguarding and the potential of children being smuggled.
“We’re testing to see how safeguarding processes will work. Our aspiration is to have this in place for the summer depending on the trials, but the decision will be for ministers.”