Britain uses the army to replace striking passport employees at airports
On Friday, it appeared that the British military, who were hired by the government to replace the striking passport control agents, were able to mitigate the unrest, in the midst of public sector protest movements taking place in the country to demand better wages.
On Friday, the number of passengers arriving at the six airports covered by the strike that precedes the Christmas holiday, which falls at the end of the week, is expected to reach about a quarter of a million passengers.
And while travelers were warned that they might face a prolonged delay, Gatwick and Heathrow airports confirmed that their immigration halls were operating as usual on Friday, after the government hired members of the armed forces and civil servants.
Passenger Lucy Zilberwaite said in a tweet that her plane "just landed at (Airport) Heathrow, I have never seen an event like this. The army handles border security," noting that she crossed the airport very quickly.
The strike, organized by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, took part in about 1,000 workers at Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester and the southern port of Newhaven.
The strike is the first of eight strikes held daily between Friday and the first of December, with the exception of December 27.
And railway workers will strike from work from Saturday afternoon, on Christmas Eve, until Tuesday morning, while the country is witnessing strikes by highway and postal workers.
Last year witnessed a series of union movements, from port workers to lawyers, to protest the decline in purchasing power due to the high inflation, which reached the highest level in decades.
Friday's move comes in the wake of strikes organized this week by nurses and ambulance crews to protest the government's refusal to increase their wages, which have remained the same for years in the midst of a cost of living crisis that has led to a rise in inflation to nearly 11%.
On Friday, the Royal Society of Nursing (RCN) announced that nurses would strike again on January 18 and 19.
The General Confederation of Trade Unions (GMB) announced that the ambulance crews' strike, scheduled for December 28, had been suspended on Friday.
The federation urged the government to "sit down to the table and discuss wages."
But Health Secretary Steve Barclay has not shown any openness to a salary settlement.
He said in a statement that the unions' demands for better wages were "unaffordable" and would deprive basic services of their funds and "cause further delays in care," expressing his "disappointment" that the nurses went ahead with announcing more strikes.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news