Gate Gourmet and unions reach agreement, BA still pondering |
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Sun, 09 Oct 2005 17:20
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LONDON - The acrimonious dispute between airline catering company Gate Gourmet and union workers could finally be resolved after the British Airways caterer said that a deal had been reached with the unhappy workers
The Transport & General Workers Union (T&G) confirmed that a compromise had been arrived at whereby jobs would be culled either through voluntary redundancies or forced ones. This deal was ratified by the workers at a mass meeting last week, the T&G said. Eric Born, managing director Gate Gourmet UK & Ireland also confirmed that a deal had been reached in a statement, "We are very pleased with the result, and that the union has finally got its membership to vote for the proposal."
Gate Gourmet had embarked on a cost cutting move and had unilaterally sacked 670 workers without any notice. In a solidarity walkout, the unions had pulled all workers at the Heathrow airport, causing the stalling of over 700 flights and leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded.
But even though the two sides have inked the agreement, it is understood that BA is reluctant to put pen to paper unless clear dates for the return of food to short haul flights and other operational issues are sorted out. "We are putting a lot of pressure on Gate Gourmet and it will have to work out the problems that we have discussed. We hope matters will become clear towards the end of the week," said Willie Walsh, the BA's new chief executive. He added that their aim was to continue to get supplies from Gate Gourmet as "It is not easy to work with a number of suppliers, given the consolidation that is going on in the industry, and I'm not sure things would have been any better with two suppliers."
Under the deal around 400 workers are to get their jobs back and this is the main reason that unions have sorted the matter out. A formal agreement is expected anytime next week.
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