BA wildcat strike supporting sacked workers
Aug 11 2005 17:35
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Admin edit:
Donate to the workers' support fund!
http://www.tgwu.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=91870
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http://www.labourstart.org/gategourmet
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News links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4142408.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/08/11/british.airways/index.html
Anyone have anything more? From a lefty source, like?
Aug 11 2005 20:47
#2
This is an excellent example of worker's showing solidarity - all power to them. Let's hope it spreads and the 600 sacked workers get their jobs back. Also pleased that the TGWU are backing the dispute even though it is illegal....
Aug 11 2005 21:06
#3
Does anyone have ANY IDEA if there is anything that can be done to support this? Anything?
Aug 11 2005 21:27
#4
it has been pointed out that as these are wildcats, there will be no hjardship funds available to the families of the strikers.
Donations should be possible to acounts that should be opened and publicised soon. Solidarity demos should be organised as soon as we get the go-ahead from the workers concerned.
Anything else?
Aug 11 2005 22:19
#5
The T&G have not said anything about a hardship fund for the sacked workers and for legal reasons won't ask for money for members taking wild cate action (can't be seen supporting unofficial action). If the dispute is on-going then solidarity action is worth organising. Gate Gourmet have offices at the following airports -
- All the London ones
- Glasgow
- Newcastle
- Dublin
- Bristol
The company is based in Switzerland
Aug 11 2005 22:26
#6
RPG wrote:
The T&G have not said anything about a hardship fund for the sacked workers and for legal reasons won't ask for money for members taking wild cate action (can't be seen supporting unofficial action). If the dispute is on-going then solidarity action is worth organising. Gate Gourmet have offices at the following airports -- All the London ones
- Glasgow
- Newcastle
- Dublin
- Bristol
The company is based in Switzerland
bollocks! None in brum? Where did you get the above info from?
Aug 11 2005 22:28
#7
T&G' site and Gate Gourmet's
Aug 12 2005 06:45
#8
Their site can be viewed at:
http://www.gategourmet.com/797.asp
I loved this line:
Dedication – it is not to be found in any management training manual, but it is in our employees blood. Gate Gourmet people thrive on pace and on meeting tough demands. Explore our people section in order to learn what really is behind our most valuable resources – our employees.
Clearly the company's "Most valuable resource" did not feel too valued in this instance!
Aug 12 2005 13:07
#9
Hi
Quote:
Does anyone have ANY IDEA if there is anything that can be done to support this? Anything?
Precisely. How will we win? How will we know when we’ve won? What’s the prize at stake?
Let’s examine the sequence of events…
1.
Gate Gourmet is in financial crisis, and so announces restructuring plans. Presumably disadvantageous changes to working conditions and redundancies.
2.
Gate Gourmet staff walk out in protest over the plans.
3.
The Gate Gourmet staff are sacked.
4.
BA workers stage a solidarity strike to reinstate the sacked workers.
Gate Gourmet are going to go out of business anyway, so there’s no incentive for them to reinstate the sacked workers, this way they save on redundancy costs. The BA staff will eventually have to go back to work, or be replaced, possibly by the same people they’re supporting.
It’s a poor strategy for conflict, the only way for them to “win” is for BA to be forced out business itself. This is both unlikely (BA is a strategic business for the state) and futile as it would result in even more redundancies.
The way out of the dispute is to focus on the problem’s core, that is to say, the cut to the incomes of Gate Gourmet staff. This could have been solved at the beginning, when restructuring was announced, by workers being handed the company’s accounts to decide how they should best run the business to their advantage, perhaps seeking help from public coffers in doing so. To enforce their demand, they could start disposing of Gate Gourmet stock, giving passengers double servings when they asked for it etc etc. Taking the stock out and giving to the homeless and poor in London or even abroad.
Gate Gourmet would be forced to negotiate with the workers, the adverse publicity of any other course of action would be as disastrous for them as allowing the situation to continue.
Now the Gate Gourmet staff have been sacked, the problem is worse than before. As I say, Gate Gourmet is a dead business anyway and under no obligation to take them back. The BA dispute, to a certain extent, was lost before it began. I expect the unions want BA to insource the catering, which it may be forced to do anyway if one of Gate Gourmet’s competitors doesn’t step in to do the job.
If I was in charge of the campaign, I would suggest that the BA workers say they’ll go back to work when the staff of the other catering firms sign up to the free-food protest I suggested earlier. That’ll put public pressure on all the right places. The free-food protest can continue until the Gate Gourmet staff are satisfied they’re getting a decent deal out of what remains of their failed business.
Not ideal, but slightly more positive than seeing yet another dispute petering out and leaving the workers worse off than when they started.
Love
Chris
Aug 12 2005 15:17
#10
My flight to New York just got cancelled. Thanks a lot.
Aug 12 2005 15:24
#11
tough poo poo! 
another cause for celebration.
were you going to see some shite hardcore gig, or hang around brooklyn with Freddy Madball?
Aug 12 2005 15:27
#12
Good or bad news? I'm not sure. The strikers appear to be returning to work, tho i'd want a proper lefty source before working out whats going on properly.
Aug 12 2005 15:31
#13
Nice one to all involved. I'd say one way to help is to keep writing in letters and phoning in to radio shows emphasising that you support the strikers.
Someone who lives under the Heathrow flightpath phoned into BBC news last night saying 'For the first time in years I've got some peace and quiet. Up the workers!' 
Maybe anyone who lives near Heathrow could get local residents to sign some kind of statement of support?
GG is 'suffering', while still finding the cash to pay huge executive salaries. They are owned by a massive Texan venture capital firm that is worth over $15 billion. These capitalists chose to buy up GG when it was very profitable and now want to drop people in order to get those profits back. Tough shit. All that wealth created by the workers since 1995 when the company was floated, has to be paid back in full 
Aug 12 2005 15:39
#14
revol68 wrote:
were you going to see some shite hardcore gig, or hang around brooklyn with Freddy Madball?
I was going over to buy an especially huge pair of scissors with which to cut off your 6 year old trailer trash rat tail.
In all seriousness though, posts like that are just sad. Why would you wish something like that on anyone??
Like I said to Redyred earlier, I fully support the cause but I really do need a holiday. Partially to escape inane posts like yours.
Aug 12 2005 16:52
#15
Alan_is_Fucking_Dead wrote:
revol68 wrote:
were you going to see some shite hardcore gig, or hang around brooklyn with Freddy Madball?I was going over to buy an especially huge pair of scissors with which to cut off your 6 year old trailer trash rat tail.
In all seriousness though, posts like that are just sad. Why would you wish something like that on anyone??
Like I said to Redyred earlier, I fully support the cause but I really do need a holiday. Partially to escape inane posts like yours.
could you and revol keep this crap to another thread please
Aug 12 2005 19:22
#16
I merely swooped down to make a passing comment mate.
Aug 12 2005 19:37
#17
this was a really heartwarming event - especially because i used to work in the catering, erm... 13 years ago doing mainly cleaning and using the industrial washing machines. Crap job, but such fond memories...
Aug 13 2005 12:21
#18
You can send messages of support to:
There is a good report in today's Guardian about the strikers (mainly Asian women).
Aug 13 2005 12:40
#19
yeah - very unusual to see a Guardian lead article actually supporting a group of workers on strike - in fact it's the first I can ever remember. That catering firm must be really bad.
Aug 14 2005 13:00
#20
You've got two things happening here which I think are crucial today for beginning to successfully challenge the increasing exploitation of casual workers and casual contracts fast approaching those on full time contracts:
1. Full time employees who have more power and autonomy to act, and more leverage in the workplace because of what little protection is left to them - coming out in support/solidarity with casual workers from other parts of the Airline industry. In this case baggage handlers. This support is crucial to effectively challenge - could this be a tactical shift in the T&G?
2. Support and solidarity from Gate Gourmet workers in other parts of the world - particularly the US.
See here: http://www.unitehere.org/presscenter/release.asp?ID=955
(Unite Here is one of the defecting unions in the recent break from the AFL-CIO)
What's missing is more community support, although Woodbine points to sporadic local community 'up the workers', but that's self-interest.
Riser thinks this a waste of time from his armchair - I say rather that this could be the start of some real tactical shifts with unions. The other notable feature of this wild cat strike is that it is grass roots led.
The Guardian reporting has been rather good - but the rest of the media seems to be at a loss to how to report this. Jesus, all Newsnight could come up with was wheeling on Redwood and Kirsty Walk spouting crap about the winter of discontent.
I think this a very hopeful turn of event, and Riser I think the key motivation of these wild cat strikers might actually be to support their fellow workers. Also, I think this could be an influential spark for others campaigns.
Aug 14 2005 17:16
#21
The Times article today pissed me right off
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1734057,00.html
Still some good background stuff. What wanker bosses though! It seems like the workers are pretty sorted though, great stuff. I really hope it ends in some kind of victory...
Aug 14 2005 17:50
#22
Hi
Mitch wrote:
What's missing is more community support, although Woodbine points to sporadic local community 'up the workers', but that's self-interest.Riser thinks this a waste of time from his armchair
Not at all. I thoroughly support your perspective. I am in my armchair though.
Love
Chris
Aug 14 2005 18:16
#23
Fuck...I wish I had an armchair, I'd be so much more cynical.
Aug 14 2005 21:15
#24
http://www.tgwu.org.uk/Templates/System/Other.asp?NodeID=91864
Appears there was strong community support in Southall - 1000 packed this meeting above.
My cats sit in the armchair, whilst I grovel on the floor at their paws. Meowse.
Aug 14 2005 22:06
#25
I'm loving that image.
Aug 18 2005 02:08
#26
Aug 18 2005 11:27
#27
Email Support campaign:
Hats off to all involved!