Peace talks break down at Gatwick

Baggage handlers are staging two more walkouts

Baggage handlers at Gatwick are planning to go ahead with two more strikes after talks with airport service company Servisair broke down.

Members of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) are to stage 12-hour walkouts on Wednesday and Friday.

They have held two 24-hour stoppages in the last 10 days but the company said they had no effect on passengers.

The dispute is over workloads, working practices and what the union claims is "victimisation" of a union steward.

'Stay of execution'

The TGWU said on Tuesday that Servisair had only offered a "stay of execution" for the suspended official.

Servisair said that during the first two walkouts planes were leaving early because managers were doing the baggage handlers' jobs.

The company said that it would put in place the same contingency plans for the new walkouts, both planned to start at 0800 BST.

Passengers should turn up as normal for their flights, it said.

Airlines including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic use different baggage handling companies and are not affected by the strike.

Servisair is one of four baggage handling companies at Gatwick, covering more than 20 airlines including Ryanair, Air Malta, Britannia, Thomas Cook, Easyjet, Excel Airways, Mytravel, Continental and Delta.