Strikes at Heathrow Avoided as Union, BAA Reach Agreement

Strike action at six U.K airports, including London Heathrow, was avoided when union leaders accepted what they called a "much improved" pay settlement from BAA Ltd.

The Unite union, which represents airport staff, said it would recommend that workers accept the offer when it is put to them in a ballot, Bloomberg News reported. Details of the deal will be disclosed later today.

"We are pleased with the outcome," Brendan Gold, Unite's national secretary for civil aviation, told Bloomberg News. "We dealt with some of the key issues that we had been looking to discuss with BAA for many months."

Members had given Unite a strike mandate after BAA offered a 1% wage increase. The union said that employees deserved a bigger raise after agreeing to a pay freeze last year.