WE want the TUC to give us the support that they voted for at their TUC Congress.
‘They must help us to win our jobs back, said locked out Gate Gourmet worker Chaanan Rattu yesterday on the picket line near Heathrow.
‘They voted to give us 100 per cent support and now we need them to deliver.
‘We have all rejected the deal which the TGWU and the TUC leader Brendan Barber negotiated with the company.
‘It was a terrible deal, giving the company everything that it wanted.
‘Some of my colleagues, who were selected for compulsory redundancy are at Appeal Hearings on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
‘But even if they win their appeal they will have to sign away all of their rights and their conditions of service.
‘They won’t do this.
‘The TGWU leaders and the TUC leader Brendan Barber agreed selective criteria for compulsory redundancies including sickness levels.
‘I think that this is disgusting. We don’t accept any compulsory redundancies.
‘We have all sent in our applications for Employment Tribunals to hear our cases for unfair dismissal.
‘We all want reinstatement on our original terms and conditions.
‘We all want payment of all of the wages that we have lost since we were locked out on August 10th.
‘We were very proud to receive the backing of the TUC when we went to the Brighton Congress in September
‘Now we need the TUC to show its real power and to help us win our fight. My job is still there and I want it back.
‘I have worked here for 15 years and I can’t get a job anywhere else.’
Rashtal Singh, another locked out worker, added: ‘The TGWU leaders and Brendan Barber have negotiated a deal which divides us all up and we are not accepting it.
‘We must have a settlement where we all go back inside together.’
• Second news story
NEWCASTLE HOSPITAL STRIKE
UNISON held a successful 24-hour strike on Monday by over six hundred staff at all three hospitals within the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust – the Freeman, the Royal Victoria Infirmary and Newcastle General Hospital.
A UNISON statement said: ‘The strike was held in protest at an injustice in the Agenda for Change agreement concerning long serving employees.
‘The UNISON action, which ended at midnight last night, involved domestics, cleaners, porters and catering staff who work at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust.
‘It was the result of a breakdown in talks between the union and the management of the trust.
‘The dispute centres on the part of the Agenda for Change agreement that allows newer staff to “leapfrog” long-serving staff – who may have been working for the NHS for many years – to a higher rate of pay.’
UNISON regional officer Ian Daley said: ‘The chief executive claims that they cannot vary a national agreement, but the truth is that trusts and unions up and down the country have been quietly negotiating local agreements within the national framework, to mutual satisfaction.’
The union is calling for pay equity between existing and new members of staff.