Christmas commuters to Britain face potential disruption after Gatwick airport staff voted for a 48-hour strike from Friday.

The action involving check-in staff, baggage handlers and cargo crew comes on top of a British Airways cabin crew strike planned for Heathrow next Wednesday. Both disputes are over pay and involve members from the Unite Union.

The airport staff strike will involve a walkout of more than 1,500 workers at Swissport, the world’s largest ground and cargo handler, at 18 British airports, including Gatwick.

According to the BBC, Unite, which has called on management to take part in constructive talks, has said the action was a last resort.

Unite says its members voted by 62.5 per cent to reject a three-year pay deal for 2015 to 2017, which the union argues barely keeps pace with inflation.

It said workers were also angry that detrimental changes to terms and conditions had been linked to the pay deal.

These changes include freezing overtime payments for the foreseeable future and restructuring pay.

Unite’s national officer for civil air transport, Oliver Richardson, was quoted: “Our members are only taking this industrial action as a last resort in a bid to reach a fair settlement — our members have not had a pay rise since 2014.

“When you break down the headline figures — 1 per cent in 2015, 1.25 per cent in 2016 and 2.4 per cent in 2017 — they are barely keeping up with inflation.”

Earlier this week, more than 2,000 BA cabin crew members rejected a 2 per cent pay rise and voted in favour of a strike at Heathrow, from Wednesday.

A BA spokeswoman said of that news: “We are extremely disappointed that the union is creating uncertainty for our customers.”