British airport staff unions have called off three strikes set for January that threatened to close Britain's busiest airports.
Union officials voted to halt the industrial action after airport operator British Airports Authority (BAA) eased plans to alter workers' pensions right, BBC reported Thursday.
Following a productive discussion on Monday, BAA and the trade unions have reached an agreement in principle.
Under the terms of the plan, BAA and the unions will meet to consider the future of the pension fund and call in independent experts to assess it.
The unions involved, Unite and the Public and Commercial Services Union, called for three strikes scheduled to take place for 24 hours starting at 0600 GMT on 7 and 14 of January, and 48 hours from 0600 GMT on Jan. 17.
Union officials said there would now be "proper consultations" over the future of the pension scheme. Unite represents about 6,000 airport workers employed by BAA, including firefighters and security staff, without whom the airports cannot operate.
The strikes would have hit all of BAA's seven airports in the country, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton.
BAA said 1.3 million passengers would be affected if the strikes went ahead.
The United union of airport workers had its first talks with BAA on Dec. 27 which failed to produce positive results.
Source: Xinhua
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