LOCKED out Gate Gourmet workers were on the picket line yesterday determined to take their struggle forward to victory.
Shop steward Gurdip Heer told News Line: ‘I got a phone call from Iggy Vaid (the suspended British Airways shop steward and TGWU executive council member), to say that the union can’t stop paying us hardship payments unless the dispute is over.
‘Not only that, they must increase them, because many people are suffering from hardship.
‘I am going to the union office on Monday to ensure that we receive the next hardship payment when it is due to us, just before Christmas.’
Mrs Balbinder Gruwal said: ‘I spoke to senior shop steward Dhillon and he told me that we should definitely get our December payment.
‘We will make sure we do.
‘Whenever I go to the union office, I always end up fighting with them.
‘They are putting so much pressure on people to sign the Compromise Agreement.
‘It’s very simple. If you sign, whether it’s to accept redundancy or apply for re-engagement under the slave labour Survival Plan, you are giving up the fight, you are giving in to the company.’
Parmjit Bains said: ‘I spoke to Mohammed Taj (Yorkshire TGWU executive council delegate) yesterday and he told me that it was the company that gave the deadline of December 16 for the dispute to finish.
‘If that’s true, why is the union saying that the dispute will finish on December 16 and hardship payments will stop?
‘The union must represent us and we are not going to sign the Compromise Agreement.
‘And we are not going to let them stop us having the union solicitor represent us in our employment tribunal.
‘And we are not going to let them stop the hardship payments.
‘Hundreds of us are fighting on for reinstatement under our original terms and conditions.
‘We know the whole working class supports us.
‘One thousand people marched with us through Southall last Sunday and that just gives an idea of how much people are with us.’