BBC: Wildcat strike grounds BA flights
T&GWU: Anger at Heathrow as Gate Gourmet sack workers by megaphone
GMB: GMB Members on BA Baggage Handling Will Not Cover T&G Members Work

BBC: Wildcat strike grounds BA flights

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All British Airways (BA) flights have been grounded at Heathrow in an escalating industrial row which has affected 17, 000 passengers.

Flights were cancelled on Thursday afternoon as the airline tried to find hotel rooms for stranded travellers.

BA baggage handlers, loaders and bus drivers walked out in sympathy with workers sacked by caterer Gate Gourmet.

The firm, which provides BA’s in-flight meals, dismissed 800 staff over an unofficial strike on Wednesday.

Action by Gate Gourmet staff was already affecting BA on Wednesday, as the airline cancelled four flights because of a lack of food.

By Thursday, passengers were being given food bags and vouchers to get food before boarding flights, but queues meant some check-in desks had to be closed.

Later some BA staff, represented by the same union as the Gate Gourmet workers, staged an unofficial walk-out.

BA says there is little it can do as the walk-out is related to a dispute outside its control.

But it has had to ground all Thursday’s flights and divert 14 inward-bound flights. The airline is putting on coaches to ferry passengers between airports.

A BA spokesman said: “We are trying to get people home and trying to find hotels for those who need one. We will give refunds if that is what they want or passengers can rebook for a later date.”

He said the incident is a “huge disappointment” and the company is doing all it can to resolve the situation.

Among stranded passengers was Jane Taylor, 36, from Esher, in Surrey, who was stuck on a plane two hours after it landed from Frankfurt.

“People are fed up, although there’s been no fights yet. Everyone is quite calm,” she told BBC News.

BBC correspondent Russel Hayes said the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) recognised the walk-out by BA staff was illegal “wildcat” action and was trying to persuade members to go back to work.

The union held talks with Gate Gourmet on Thursday and said it was hoping for a “definitive statement” from the firm by 2100 BST.

Gate Gourmet has said it will not re-instate staff and said it had told the union it was facing a financial crisis.

It said the actions of the staff had jeopardised the livelihoods of the entire 2, 000-strong workforce.

Gate Gourmet’s Andy Cook told BBC News: “We are in the situation at the moment where we need to make changes.

“We really do want to do that with the cooperation of the union and the staff, but we have to manage the business otherwise it will cease to exist. “

But the TGWU said managers had provoked the dispute and the union was taking legal advice.

It is not the first wildcat strike to force BA to ground its flights from Heathrow at the height of the holiday season.

An unofficial walkout over a new electronic clocking-on system in July 2003 was later blamed by BA for much of a £245m slip in its profits.

T&GWU: Anger at Heathrow as Gate Gourmet sack workers by megaphone

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10 Aug 2005

Workers turning up for the afternoon shift at airline caterer Gate Gourmet today were left confused, dazed and out of work after it appeared they were sacked by megaphone. Eyewitnesses from the T&G said someone, thought to be a Gate Gourmet manager, made an announcement which people found difficult to hear. It transpired very soon afterwards that a twenty minute warning had been issued to staff arriving for the afternoon shift that if they failed to report for work they would be sacked. This was later confirmed in a note handed out. By the time the people realised what was happening, they had, effectively, been sacked.

Brendan Gold, the T&G national secretary for civil aviation said the whole process this afternoon had been a “a truly bizarre situation which has left people angry, confused, out of work and in a state of shock. If this morning was a difficult situation, this afternoon has taken a much more sinister turn.”

The union also revealed details of how the Gate Gourmet managers at Heathrow had undermined the “rescue package” in June this year. T&G representatives said to the company that the restructuring proposals needed to be across the board and include the management grades if the plans were to have credibility. However, the company then re-graded 147 shop-floor workers, who earned around £14, 000, as managers only to make them redundant. Then it was made clear that managers in the new structure would be on higher starting salaries than before with the lowest grade paying £18, 000 as opposed to £14, 000 and other starting salaries being raised to between £22, 000 and £28, 000. The company was told by the T&G reps that these changes would effectively mean the managers were excluded from the whole process. The rescue package was then rejected because of this by a margin of nine to one.

“From start to finish we have been trying to deal with this company in a straightforward manner,” said Mr. Gold. “But what we saw in June has been intensified today. We will take legal advice on the actions of this company in respect of our members but this is far from over.”

For further information please call the T&G Press Office on 020 7611 2550 or Andrew Dodgshon on 07976 832156

Calling notice: Tony Woodley media briefing on Heathrow crisis 12pm, Thursday 11th August, T&G Regional Office, Hillingdon

Tony Woodley, T&G general secretary, will hold a briefing for the media today at 12pm at the T&G’s Regional Office in Hillingdon on the crisis caused at Heathrow Airport by Gate Gourmet’s sacking of its employees. Ahead of today’s briefing, Mr. Woodley said:

“Over the last 24 hours I have contacted the company to secure the reinstatement of our sacked members and restart talks without prejudice.

“This common sense approach, which would meet the interests of passengers above all, has the support of Gate Gourmet’s main customer, British Airways.

“Unfortunately, the management of Gate Gourmet has responded intransigently. They are preventing employees reporting for work.

“This is causing chaos at one of the world’s biggest airports at the busiest time of year.

“The company has told us that ‘this is a community we cannot work with’. The employees concerned are almost all low-paid Asian workers, and such an approach is utterly unacceptable.

“I appeal again for Gate Gourmet to step back from the brink before more suffering is caused to the travelling public. It should re-instate the dismissed employees and sit down with the union to find a speedy resolution to the difficulties.”

Reporters, camera crews and photographers are welcome to attend the media briefing. The T&G’s Regional Office at Hillingdon is located at Uxbridge Road, Middlesex, UB10 OLY.

For further information please contact the T&G Press Office on 020 7611 2549/50

GMB Members on BA Baggage Handling Will Not Cover T&G Members Work