‘THEY can’t be allowed to do this,’ locked out Gate Gourmet worker Parminder Brar said yesterday after hearing that the TGWU leadership plans to cease hardship fund payments on 6 December.
Teams of the locked out workers were campaigning for their march through Southall on Sunday 4 December yesterday.
Parminder told News Line: ‘I got a letter from Gate Gourmet this morning saying that the date for signing the Compromise Agreement has been extended to the 16 December.
‘I’m one of the 164 selected for compulsory redundancy and the deadline for signing was originally 16 November, so they have extended it by another month.
‘I went to the union office and heard a senior shop steward urging people to sign and telling them that the dispute is only going to continue until 6 December because the money the union is paying – £52 a week – will be stopped from that date.
‘That’s what they are saying. We can’t let them do this. The dispute is still on.
‘The union leaders are not doing what we want. They are doing everything for the company and not for the workers.
‘This morning we leafleted passengers going in and coming out at Hayes Station and got lots of support. We are going to show to people that we are not accepting what the company have done with us. We are not going to let them pick and choose who they have back and we are not going to let the union dump us.’
Parmjit Bains was out with another campaign team. She said: ‘Nobody disappointed us today. John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington agreed to speak at our rally and other people we contacted said they fully support us and will help.
‘We are telling people that the union leaders and the company are trying to push this deal on us and we are not going to let them get away with it.
‘They are desperate, that’s why they are extending the date for signing. But everybody knows now what is in the deal and won’t sign.
‘When we went to the union office for our cheque on Thursday they said they would give us just one more cheque.’
Kuldip added: ‘I received a letter this morning from the company saying that the deadline for signing the compromise agreement has been extended to the middle of December. I won’t sign however many times they extend it.
‘The union must not be allowed to stop our payment, they should increase it.
‘The march is going to show that we are fighting to win. The union leaders should help their members who pay their wages, not the company which sacked them.’