Strikes called off at UK airports

Strike action at 6 UK airports has been averted. An initial agreement was last night reached between British airport operator BAA and the Unite union. It followed a day of negotiations. Hundreds of Irish passengers heading to the UK at the end of August had faced disruption if the action went ahead. Brendan Gold of UNITE says the union was at an advantage because of the overwhelming support for strike action. “The strong mandate that we received has been able to achieve a successful, negotiated settlement” he said. “We’re very satisfied (with) that – we wouldn’t recommend a settlement which we didn’t think our members were going to support”. “So we’re very comfortable with the way that that’s gone” he added.