Staff at Red Handling, who work as baggage handlers, check-in staff and flight dispatchers for Norwegian, Delta, TAP Air Portugal and Nigeria’s Air Peace will begin action on Good Friday and continue until the early hours of Tuesday 22 April.
Unite says around 50 flights a day will be affected, with more than a hundred set to strike over several issues, including claims pensions are not being paid.
Unite said: “Members have found their payments have been missing, are incorrect and some have even not had pension schemes set up for them.
“Meanwhile Red Handling are routinely paying their employees late, something which has happened three times over the last year with some staff workers waiting for wages for up to two weeks. Despite putting staff at risk of financial difficulty, Red Handling has failed to agree to a contractual late payment of wages reimbursement.”
Unite also said new working patterns were imposed without consultation and workers were not being granted the legal 11 hours between shifts or lunch and afternoon breaks.
Unite regional officer David Taylor said: "Gatwick airport says it expects the Easter holiday to be its busiest period of the year so far, so there is no doubt that industrial action over the long weekend will be extremely disruptive for travellers - however this is a dispute entirely of Red Handling’s own making."
