With two bank holidays the month of May is often seen as the perfect time to get away but this year that could be hampered by a series of strikes which will cause travel chaos.
Rail services, the London Underground and Heathrow Airport will all be hit by industrial action this month, some of it coinciding with the first May bank holiday.
Train drivers union Aslef, Tube workers who are members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) and around 800 members of the union Unite based at Heathrow are all to stage walkouts or overtime bans during the month.
It means travel disruption will be inevitable for some this month.
When are the train strikes?
Train drivers union Aslef has announced its members will walk out in another series of one-day strikes, coupled with a six-day overtime ban.
This will affect 16 train companies with which the union is still in dispute. over pay for drivers.
Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said: “Drivers would not vote to strike if they thought an offer was acceptable.
“They don’t. And that offer – now a year old – is dead in the water.”
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents rail companies, said: “This wholly unnecessary strike action called by the ASLEF leadership will sadly disrupt customers and businesses once again, while further damaging the railway at a time when taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra £54 million a week just to keep services running.
“We continue to seek a fair agreement with the ASLEF leadership which both rewards our people, gives our customers more reliable services and makes sure the railway isn’t taking more than its fair share from taxpayers.”
The industrial action will be on:
Tuesday 7 May – affecting c2c, Gatwick Express, Greater Anglia (which includes Stansted Express), Great Northern, Southeastern, Southern, South Western Railway (which includes Island Line) and Thameslink.
Wednesday 8 May – Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, Heathrow Express, London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway.
Thursday 9 May – LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express.
There will also be an overtime ban from Monday 6 May to Saturday 11 May which may alter the timetable of trains that will be running.
Passengers are advised to check before they travel, as the action is likely to lead to delays and cancellations.
When are the Tube strikes?
Members of TSSA rail union working as customer service manager on the London Underground are already going on strike on Friday 26 April.
TSSA Customer Service Managers at London Underground will also take part in an overtime ban from Monday 29 April to Friday 5 May, which will include the May bank holiday.
This overtime ban is expected to lead to station closures at very short notice.
TSSA General Secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: “We will continue to take sustained action until London Underground is prepared to negotiate with us in good faith.”
Transport for London, which runs London Underground, has said it is “disappointed” by the planned action and has urged TSSA urge TSSA to “continue to work with us to help find a resolution.”
A planned strike by Aslef members on the London Underground for Saturday 4 May has now been called off.
When are the Heathrow Airport strikes?
Heathrow, the UK’s largest airport, is facing major disruption in May with a series of strikes across different departments.
Unite union has said almost 800 members will be taking part in a week of strike action beginning at 12.01am on Tuesday 7 May and ending at 11.50pm on Monday 13 May in a dispute over the outsourcing of jobs.
Jobs in passenger services (assisting travellers to catch connecting flights), trolley operations and campus security (security guards responsible for workers at Heathrow and vehicles being checked entering Heathrow) are expected to be outsourced by 1 June.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Heathrow Airport’s actions are deplorable, it is raking in massive profits for the bosses while trying to squeeze every last penny out of its workforce.”
Unite members from passenger services, trolley operations, campus security, firefighters and airside operations will strike from 7 May up to and including 13 May.
In a separate dispute, Unite members at AFS Ltd, an airline refuelling company, are also taking part in industrial action at Heathrow Airport on Saturday 4 May, Sunday 5 May and Monday 6 May (bank holiday) over pay and conditions.
Unite said the action will “inevitably cause widespread disruption across the airport leading to delays and disruption.”
A Heathrow Airport spokesperson said: “We are reorganising our operations to deliver better results for our customers.
“There are no job losses as a result of these changes, and we continue to discuss with Unite the implementation of these changes for the small number of colleagues impacted.
Unite’s threats of potential industrial action are unnecessary, and customers can be reassured that we will keep the airport operating smoothly just like we have in the past.”
Border Force staff, who are members of the PCS union, and responsible for immigration controls and passport checks are due to go on strike for four days between Monday 29 April and Thursday 2 May in the run-up to the bank holiday.