Talks aimed at averting a series of new year strikes by thousands of workers at seven British airports, including Heathrow and Gatwick, will be held today.
Officials from airport owners BAA will meet leaders of Unite and the Public and Commercial Services Union in a bid to head off 24-hour walkouts on January 7th and 14th and a 48-hour stoppage from January 17th.
Firefighters, security, maintenance and clerical staff at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen are due to take industrial action in protest at the closure of BAA's final salary pension scheme to new workers.
The two sides met for several hours last week but the talks ended without a breakthrough to the deadlocked row. The unions have insisted that the decision to close the final salary pension scheme must be reversed before the strikes can be called off and negotiations on the future of the scheme are held.
Brendan Gold, who will lead the union negotiators at today's talks, said the unions avoided taking industrial action over the Christmas holiday period but he stressed that workers were determined to secure the future of the pension scheme for all members.