THE RMT has launched a ballot for industrial action in protest at changes to working patterns at Heathrow Express which could involve redundancies. The union has claimed that 123 posts could be lost. The jobs affected are mobile sales advisors and customer concierges. Heathrow Express said it is planning to ‘reduce costs throughout the business in order to keep it viable and to reduce the need to make any compulsory redundancies’. However, RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: ‘RMT is appalled that under the cover of the Covid-19 crisis, which has seen Heathrow Express workers furloughed, management have chosen to put a gun to our members’ heads demanding they accept a total reorganisation, including moving half the workforce on to part-time contracts, or face unemployment. The union is demanding the immediate withdrawal of both reorganisation and redundancy proposals to allow collective bargaining to take place. We have declared a dispute with Heathrow Express and have begun balloting our members for industrial action.’