BA: Second union official sacked

On 5 January British Airways sacked a second shop steward for involvement in the Heathrow Airport baggage handlers’ strike of 11-12 August in support of the Gate Gourmet catering workers, producing food for BA's flights, who were locked out on 10 August.

The union involved, at BA and at Gate Gourmet, the TGWU, was so cowed that it did not even issue a press release to complain about the sacking, let alone start a campaign to ballot the workers for action to defend their shop steward.

The Gate Gourmet dispute thus seems, sadly, to be ending in a complete rout. According to the Financial Times (17 December 2005), Gate Gourmet bosses have said that they will “re-engage” about 200 workers out of 700. 13 had been “re-engaged” as of that date, so it remains to be seen whether the final total comes to as much as 200.

The Gate Gourmet bosses make clear that this is outside and beyond the supposed deal made with the TGWU in September, because not all the 144 workers named by Gate Gourmet for compulsory redundancy signed Gate Gourmet’s required documents (sent out at the end of October) by Gate Gourmet’s deadline of 16 November. In fact only 25 signed the documents.

Gate Gourmet’s statements claim that they are being generous and cooperative in “re-engaging” some workers outside the terms of the supposed deal, but all that is probably said with a view to strengthening their position in the unfair-dismissal tribunal cases they will face. The Gate Gourmet bosses also indicate a much more likely “real” reason: “because of the labour shortage”.

(All this at www.gategourmet.co.uk.)
Despite the fact that no effective picketing, boycott, or solidarity action had impeded Gate Gourmet’s output since early August, “labour shortage” made the company unable to provide full catering to BA before the end of December (www.ba.com). No wonder, then, that Gate Gourmet was willing, indeed keen, to re-hire selected workers.

According to Gate Gourmet, as early as the ACAS talks which ended on 16 August: “In those talks, and subject first to legal safeguards, Gate Gourmet offered to take back the majority of sacked workers, recognising that many were swept up in the moment by the instigators of the illegal action”. Tony Woodley’s statement on those ACAS talks confirms this position “‘Talks have, indeed, broken down as a consequence of Gate Gourmet wanting to selectively re-employ those who had been sacked even though there is enough work for everyone’, said Tony Woodley, the T&G general secretary”. (www.tgwu.org.uk/Templates/News.asp?NodeID=91871.)
The Gate Gourmet bosses have secured exactly that “selective re-employment”, on their own terms, and with pre-emptive protection (the union’s consent) against Employment Tribunal challenges by workers whom it refuses to re-employ.