Unions today called off strikes that would have disrupted travel at Stansted airport during one of Britain's busiest holiday weekends.
The threat of strike action during the forthcoming bank holiday was averted when Swissport, the ground handling company for airlines at the Essex airport, came up with what unions said was a "substantially improved offer".
Talks had followed an official strike ballot of 500 Transport and General Workers Union and GMB members employed by Swissport who rejected a pay offer and voted by three to one for industrial action.
Under the deal agreed today, baggage handlers and other ground staff will get a 12% pay rise over two years.
Swissport ground staff start on salaries of between £11,500 and £14,000 a year, with many having to put in plenty of overtime to boost pay.
"The pay and conditions are so bad that Swissport can't recruit workers here," Maureen Byrne, a TGWU regional industrial organiser, said. "They've had to go to Poland to recruit people."
The union said budget airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet, which put an emphasis on keeping costs low, have forced companies like Swissport to keep down wages.
"We appreciate that Swissport is under pressure from the low-cost airlines," Ms Byrne added. "But we think they should negotiate harder with Michael O'Leary of Ryanair so that, if necessary, Ryanair can raise their prices by 50p a ticket.
"Without people working overtime, those planes would not get off the ground."
The GMB and TGWU both said they had suspended strikes pending a ballot of their members over the proposed settlement.
"We welcome this offer from the company, which we are recommending to our members, and we are suspending the action over the bank holiday," Gary Pearce, a GMB regional organiser, said.
Strike action at Stansted had been scheduled to begin at 5am on Saturday, continuing until 8am the following day, and again from 5am on bank holiday Monday until 8am on Tuesday.
Around 500 workers provide ground handling services, including check-in and baggage handling for some 80% of the passengers who use Stansted, the unions said.
Swissport holds the ground-handling contracts for Ryanair, easyJet and a number of the holiday charter airlines that use Stansted.
Planned strikes on the Gatwick Express airport train service over the bank holiday weekend have also been suspended.
