LOCKED-out Gate Gourmet workers were very angry on the picket line at the weekend after many of them had received special delivery letters informing them that they are facing compulsory redundancy.
Mrs A Gill told News Line yesterday: ‘They posted the letter through my door at 9.15 on Thursday night.
‘There’s no way they can chuck people out with rubbish money.
‘The stress we have had has been immense, not just for one day or for one week but for nearly three months now.
‘I don’t want redundancy. I want my job back.
‘My friend got her letter yesterday by recorded delivery.’
The agreement that the union leaders made with the company for compulsory redundancies was described as selection on ‘objective criteria’ based on disciplinary record, sickness etc.
Mrs Gill told News Line: ‘I was sick twice when I had to go to hospital so that’s why I expect they’ve chosen me. Otherwise I never went sick for over eight years.
‘It’s disgusting. The union has agreed to people being selected for compulsory redundancy based on sickness.
‘I’m going to fight this to the end.
‘The money they have offered me is peanuts.
‘We are going to the employment tribunal for reinstatement on our original terms and conditions.
‘We are not going to accept the company’s Survival Plan, which is slave, so-called flexible, labour.
‘And I want full payment of all the money I have lost since being locked out.’
Lakhvinder said: ‘I got the letter and saw the union solicitor on Friday who said that we had the right to appeal.
‘I am not going to sign the Compromise Agreement and I’m going to send in for my employment tribunal.
‘The Compromise Agreement offers nothing in my hand; it cuts my hand off.
‘It says I can’t be employed in any Gate Gourmet company. Even if Gate Gourmet buy another company in the future, I can’t be employed there, ever. It puts a black mark over my head.’
Mr Sidhu said: ‘The company claimed we came out on unofficial strike.
‘It’s not true. They pushed us out, some of us by force, and they locked us out.’
Fellow TGWU member Johil said: ‘I’m going to fight this all the way through.
‘We have to change our leaders.
‘We need leaders who will fight for us.’
