Brits preparing to head to the Canary Islands over the Easter period may face heavy travel disruption, as airport ground handling staff are to join industrial action. Check-in, baggage handling, and aircraft assistance staff are going on strike from March 27 after talks between unions and employers failed.

Workers from Groundforce and Menzies Aviation are due to take action, which will affect airlines including easyJet, Jet2, and Aer Lingus. Unions accuse employers of “breaches of pay and working conditions” and are calling on over 1,500 employees across the islands to go on strike.

Groundforce strikes begin today at airports in Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Lanzarote and will take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Staff will walk out three times a day: in the early morning, midday, and late evening, meaning they’ll stop working between 5am and 7am, 11am and 5pm, and 10pm until 12am.

Unions said the company failed to correctly introduce a wage protection clause and should be paying staff an extra 7.82% as opposed to the actual increase of 4.58%.

Unions said employees had to deal with unpaid wages, payroll errors, poor shift planning, and unpaid overtime.

This comes amid ongoing negotiations over a potential redundancy scheme at Gran Canaria Airport, which would reduce full-time contracts to part-time for up to two years.

The move has been strongly opposed by unions, who question its jurisdiction as companies continue to rely on temporary staff and overtime.