Threatened strike action at six UK airports has been ended as BAA reached an agreement with Unite yesterday.

BAA staff and their union, Unite, voiced concerns that a 1% increase on basic earnings plus an additional 0.5% conditional on changes to its sickness agreement fell short of employee expectations.

A ballot of 6,185 BAA staff last week found that 74% would vote for strike action.

A statement from Unite said: “Negotiations between Unite and BAA have been constructive and Unite is pleased to announce it is calling off the strike action at BAA’s six airports.”

A statement from BAA said: “We are pleased that the basis of an agreement has been reached on pay, that is fair to staff but which also reflects the difficult economic climate.

“Our priority is to work with our people to improve the service we provide passengers and airlines, and we look forward to doing that in the busy weeks ahead.”

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