‘WE are not signing the Compromise Agreement. It’s one big con. It’s daylight robbery. There’s no other word for it.’
‘I sent in my application for an employment tribunal. It’s gone,’ locked-out Gate Gourmet worker Harmohinder told News Line on the picket line at Heathrow airport yesterday.
‘There’s no point in waiting,’ he continued. ‘We waited all this time because of what the union leaders said but there’s very little time left.
‘Everyone must send their forms in now. Everyone thinks the union leaders have sold out, not just to Gate Gourmet but to BA as well.
‘Also, what has happened to the money the union collected – well over a million pounds. Where has it gone?
‘It should be distributed to all the locked-out workers. At the moment all we are getting is just £50 per week hardship payment from the union.
‘It doesn’t even buy bread and butter. What if you’ve got a couple of kids? It doesn’t pay your bills. Let’s put it that way.
Fellow picket Jaswinder added: ‘We are not losing, not at all. We’ve got our rights and we’re not going to give them up.
‘It may take a bit more time but we are definitely going to win. We’re not signing the Compromise Agreement. We are sending off for employment tribunals.’
Locked-out worker Gary went with a delegation to Parliament on Tuesday where they met their local MPs.
Gary said: ‘We told the MPs the deal is going to collapse and we told them we are being denied social security money.
‘They promised that they would sort it out. People are not going to sign the deal. That means it’s going to collapse.’
Mrs S Gill said: ‘Tony Woodley and all the union leaders are two-faced. They say one thing to us and something else to the bosses.’
• Second news story
TERMINAL FIVE STRIKE BALLOT
TALKS to resolve a dispute regarding bonus payments for 1,500 construction workers at Heathrow’s T5 site have not been successful and GMB and other unions are preparing for a formal strike ballot.
Talks have taken place with contractors Laing O’Rourke regarding a review of the bonus scheme which has been frozen for three years.
GMB members want the scheme to be unfrozen as the bonus has lost value over the last three years. There have also been unsuccessful talks with BAA.
Further talks are planned as preparations for the strike ballot continue. To conform to all the steps required by the legislation will take between six and eight weeks to conclude the ballot.
The T5 project is due to be completed in late 2007.
Phil Davies, GMB National Secretary said, ‘GMB and the other unions are preparing a ballot for industrial action at Heathrow Terminal 5 following the failure of talks to resolve a pay issue on the site.
Bonus has been frozen for nearly three years and the members want a review of the scheme to regain the lost value over the last three years. Unless there is movement industrial action is likely as feelings are running high on the issue.’
