Disputes and Strike Action
A major dispute, reminiscent of the Grunwick dispute of the 1970s, ensued when it sacked 670 staff based at London Heathrow Airport in August 2005; the staff were gathered in a car park and the announcement made by megaphone. In sympathy with the sacked workers, British Airways staff at the airport walked out, and mass pickets of Gate Gourmet were organised by the Transport and General Workers' Union. Several workers alleged that Gate Gourmet had manufactured the dispute, in order to employ non-union workers at lower rates of pay and with worse conditions of employment. The company subsequently offered a redundancy package of more than twice the statutory minimum in an effort to resolve the labour difficulties, secure a new deal with British Airways, and avoid insolvency. The union later negotiated the reinstatement of some of the employees, but others have continued to protest at their treatment.
On 1 March 2007, Texas Pacific Group sold its remaining shares in Gate Gourmet to Merrill Lynch.
Read more about this topic: Gate Gourmet
Famous quotes containing the words strike and/or action:
“What happens in a strike happens not to one person alone.... It is a crisis with meaning and potency for all and prophetic of a future. The elements in crisis are the same, there is a fermentation that is identical. The elements are these: a body of men, women and children, hungry; an organization of feudal employers out to break the back of unionization; and the government Labor Board sent to “negotiate” between this hunger and this greed.”
—Meridel Le Sueur (b. 1900)
“It is most pleasant to commit a just action which is disagreeable to someone whom one does not like.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)