A GATE Gourmet supplier locked out 200 workers in Heston, one mile from Heathrow Airport, yesterday.
Xavier Gourmet, which was trading up until seven months ago as Gourmet International, sent the 7.00am and 2.00pm shifts home, claiming that they would receive information about their jobs and money owed within 72 hours.
The company supplies deserts and sweets to various airline catering companies at Heathrow, including Gate Gourmet.
Angry workers at the Heston plant spoke to News Line yesterday afternoon.
Mr Singh said: ‘We just arrived this morning and the gates were closed.
‘We were last paid on September 18.
‘Many people are also due holidays.
‘They say they are going to send a letter to people in their homes.
‘Around 200 men and women work here.
‘People have been escorted in to take their stuff from their lockers.
‘The union doesn’t organise here, but it should. We would all join.
‘The company has given us no notice. It just closed the doors this morning.
‘How am I going to pay my mortgage?’
Guled Kalil said: ‘My friend rang me this morning and told me the company is bankrupt.
‘I’ve worked here since 2000.
‘There are three shifts supplying deserts for Gate Gourmet, LSG Sky Chefs and Alpha.
‘It used to be called Gourmet International, now it is called Xavier Gourmet.’
Mohamed Hirsi said: ‘I’ve worked here nine years.
‘They say they’ve got a problem with the bank and they will send us a redundancy letter within 72 hours.
‘They held a meeting inside and talked rubbish.’
Jamal said: ‘They said they will send us a letter saying we have to claim our money from the government.
‘They owe us 10 days’ holiday, two weeks’ wages and pay in lieu of notice.
‘We’ll never get it from the government.’
Deekho said: ‘I’ve worked here for three years.
‘They owe me a lot of money.’
On the picket line at Gate Gourmet at Heathrow Airport earlier, workers told News Line that they were sure that British Airways staff would stand up to the new chief executive of BA, Walsh.
Baldev said: ‘Rod Eddington has gone.
‘He slashed thousands of jobs. Now this new man has come in and he’s going to be even worse.
‘Cutting jobs – that’s how they make their money these days. Sacking workers and cutting conditions.’
Chanan Rattu said: ‘The BA workers have to take strike action to defend their jobs and to protect their shop stewards who have been suspended for supporting us.’
Mr S Singh said: ‘This new man at BA is like Siegel (Gate Gourmet boss).
‘Siegel was brought in to sack workers at Gate Gourmet and Walsh has been brought in to sack workers at BA. There’s no difference.’
He added: ‘This hill (where workers demonstrate) is going to be very popular.
‘All the airport workers are going to join us here.’
Meanwhile, workers at Heathrow Airport were furious at new British Airways boss Willie Walsh’s verbal attack on baggage handlers and check-in staff.
Ahead of his first day in the job yesterday as BA chief executive, Walsh lashed out at their walk out in support of the locked out Gate Gourmet workers in August.
Walsh said of the action which cost British Airways £50 million: ‘It was damaging to our reputation, to our brand and to morale and we are going to have to work hard to recover customers who were impacted.’
Walsh plans to continue to push through BA’s plan to cut costs by £300m by 2007 ahead of its move to the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow in 2008, and axe at least 3,000 jobs, starting with baggage handlers.
He also warned that working practices will have to change.
Walsh said: ‘It is fair to say that there are working practices that are completely irrelevant to the business today.
‘That is why Terminal 5 represents an opportunity for us to start all over again.’
• Second news story
PALESTINIAN POLICE BREAK INTO PARLIAMENT
Palestinian police officers yesterday broke into the parliament building in Gaza to demand a crackdown on the militant group Hamas.
The demonstration came a day after fierce clashes between police and Hamas fighters on Sunday.
The PNA held Hamas responsible for Sunday’s armed clashes in Gaza City that claimed the lives of a police officer and two bystanders, including a woman, and wounded 50 others, five of them seriously.
The clashes erupted amid mutual accusations of incitement between the PNA and Hamas, against the backdrop of an Israeli military and political campaign to disarm Hamas and other Palestinian armed anti-occupation groups.
The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) was scheduled to convene in the West Bank town of Ramallah yesterday to discuss the internal security situation.
There were conflicting reports over how the clashes began. The PNA accused Hamas of sparking Sunday’s confrontation, but Hamas accused some PNA ‘elements’ of fomenting the tension.
Palestinian officials said gunfire erupted after police officers interceded in a dispute between two men, one a member of Hamas.
But Hamas said its members acted when PNA police officers tried to arrest Muhammad Rantisi, a Hamas official who is the son of late Hamas leader Abdul Aziz Rantisi.
