‘I am hurt very badly when I see that report in The Guardian,’ locked-out Gate Gourmet worker Parmjit Bains told News Line.
‘The union refused to give us any money. They didn’t pay us.
‘How can we trust our union leaders if they are misleading and misusing the workers?
‘We want union leaders who act as leaders.
‘We Gate Gourmet workers are asking: where is our hardship money?
‘We can now see that Tony Woodley misused our money, that is why he was hiding when we were trying to meet him at the TUC.
‘These union leaders should be removed. We want union leaders who will understand the workers’ emotions and our needs.’
Gate Gourmet locked-out worker Lakhinder Saran told News Line yesterday: ‘It’s really disgusting that the union should pay over half a million pounds to these members after what happened to us.
‘We are really suffering hardship after Tony Woodley ordered the union to stop paying our hardship payments in January.
‘The union should restore our hardship payments and backdate them to January.’
Devinder Bath said: ‘I have no job. We are really struggling outside.
‘We believe we are going to win our case at the Employment Tribunal in November, because we were unfairly dismissed.
‘But we are very angry with the union. First, because they tried to bully us into signing the compromise agreement, and then because they stopped our hardship payments.’
Satti Uppal said: ‘I am disgusted that the union is paying out this hush money.
‘The union leaders betrayed us. They have tried to make it so we will not win our struggle.
‘I have received a letter from Gate Gourmet, with a cheque for £235, cancelling my pension. They cancelled it without my agreement.
‘It is what the union has done that has made them think that they can do this.’
