If members do reject the pay offer and Heathrow bosses dig their heels in, then there is a risk the airport is seen to prefer paying millions in compensation to airlines and needlessly causing misery for the traveling public, instead of sorting the dispute by going the extra mile and giving its workforce a decent pay rise.

Our low paid members will sacrifice a day’s pay if they go on strike and are only too aware of the disruption it will cause. However, they are at a point where they have had enough with being given crumbs while shareholders pocket billions in dividends and the chief executive enjoys a pay rise of over 100 per cent.

To add insult to injury they are also having to contend with widening pay disparities leading to airport security guards employed after 2014 earning up to £6,000 less than colleagues hired before that date.

If, as expected, our members reject the revised pay offer, then we would urge Heathrow Airport’s bosses to take the sensible option to end this dispute. Rather than pay millions in compensation to airlines and punish workers and passengers alike, talk with us at Acas and use that money for an improved pay offer which better reflects the hard work of the workers who keep the airport running safely and smoothly.

If Heathrow refuses to increase the money on offer we have to start wondering if, for them, this is really about money or is it about just taking on Unite?”