‘OUR anniversary march and rally in Southall on Sunday August 20 is very important.
‘We will show our unity and strength and we want everyone to come. It will be a big day on our road to victory.’
Gate Gourmet locked-out worker Parmjit Baines was speaking outside the Transport and General Workers Union regional office in Hillingdon, west London, yesterday.
The locked-out workers were holding their weekly picket of the TGWU office to demand official support and restoration of their union hardship payments.
Parmjit continued: ‘These union officers played a dirty game, that’s why we are here.
‘If they haven’t got the guts to fight against this company who sacked us unfairly, then they should resign.
‘I am very confident we are going to win, not just compensation, but also our jobs back.’
Parmjeet Sidhu said: ‘We want our hardship money backdated.
‘We are union members. I pay my union dues every month and I get no income.
‘What happened to us is not our fault. They dismissed us for no reason.
‘I’m getting nothing from the social security and no hardship pay from the union.
‘I have been to see my MP and he said he would try to help but nothing has happened.’
Lakhinder Saran said: ‘The union officers are saying to some of us: “Why did you go to a private solicitor?’’
‘Some people went to a private solicitor because they didn’t think that the union leaders were going to submit our claims to the Employment Tribunal.
‘The union leaders put in the claims on the last day possible.
‘They didn’t have to wait 90 days before they put the claims in, but that’s what they did.
‘The union leaders did not want to send any cases to the tribunal. It was only when we put in our own claims that they were forced to act on the last day.’
Rajany Sharma said: ‘We are fighting for our rights.
‘We went to a meeting with TGWU shop steward Dhillon and a union officer on Wednesday and they said that we would get our hardship money for February.
‘That’s good, we’ve had nothing since January 2.
‘But we want our hardship payments for March, April, May, June and every month, until we are back in our jobs.’
