TALKS are taking place between Gate Gourmet management and the Transport and General Workers Union today.
Locked out Gate Gourmet workers told News Line on the picket line at Heathrow yesterday that at the talks the union must demand all of them are reinstated on their old terms and conditions.
Mrs Sagoo said: ‘We are impatient to go inside with respect and dignity.
‘That means on the same terms and conditions.
‘It’s now five weeks since we were locked out and we need a result in favour of us.
‘Every day we think there will be a decision for reinstatement and every day we are disappointed.
‘The union should tell the company that if it doesn’t settle according to the rules and regulations straight away, then it will call further action.
‘The TUC said on Monday that it will support them whatever they do.
‘The T&G must stand firm: reinstatement for all, no victimisations.’
Mrs H Singh told News Line: ‘The union should go into these talks saying to the company: either you settle straight away or we will call the whole airport out.
‘We always worked really hard for the company.
‘When we were inside there were strong hygiene controls, which we fully supported.
‘We weren’t allowed to wear jewellery, or nail polish.
‘We had to wear a net cap. We weren’t allowed to go to our cars in the car park wearing our overalls and caps.
‘But now we see lorry drivers smoking, people going from building to building in their overalls,’ she alleged. ‘Where has the hygiene gone?
‘Friday is a very important day.’
Fellow striker Raspal Singh added: ‘The union has thousands of workers in the airport. If the TGWU leaders don’t sort this out they have to come out because they will be next.
‘And it will not be in three or five years, it will be straight away, because BA management supports gate Gourmet management.
Chaanan Rattu said: ‘This crafty management is trying to break the union. We have got the support of the BA workers, the railway workers, the miners, all the trade unions, and the unanimous support of the TUC.
‘This support must be turned into action. I worked in the company for 15 years and this management is useless. They try to say that the workers are lazy but it is not true. They are the lazy ones.’
