GATE Gourmet workers are very angry that their union, the TGWU, is still urging them to sign the Compromise Agreement deal negotiated with the company.
Speaking on the picket line at Heathrow Airport yesterday, locked out worker Paziter Sanghera told News Line: ‘The union officers are still trying to make people sign the deal.
‘More than 144 have received the compulsory redundancy letters. I think it’s around 180.
‘The union is saying to them they must sign. My wife is one of them. But they won’t sign.
‘It is a rotten deal. Under it, Gate Gourmet says you are agreeing not to work near the airport in the future.
‘The union solicitors are saying everyone must sign. But they won’t.
‘We are all going to go ahead with our employment tribunals.
‘It’s a terrible, very bad deal, which we won’t accept.
‘We want action from the union to win all our jobs back.’
Mr Mato Paul said: ‘When people go for interviews and are asked where they have worked and say Gate Gourmet, they are told they can’t get a job.
‘My 15 years of service has gone in one minute.
‘This deal has collapsed, so there must be a new deal which will involve everyone going back on their original terms and conditions and be paid compensation for all the money they have lost.’
Other workers on the picket line said they had enjoyed attending the News Line Anniversary Rally on Sunday.
Jas said: ‘It was a very good rally on Sunday because people can see what is happening to other people.
‘We should do the same and organise a big rally for the locked-out Gate Gourmet workers and invite everyone to it from all over the country.’
Mrs Kaur said: ‘The News Line rally showed that workers support us.’
Kieran said: ‘If they build Terminal Five, they want it without the unions.
‘It will be private contractors like Gate Gourmet.
‘The Gate Gourmet lorry that hit the plane yesterday shows the scab drivers have no experience.’
