Workers Revolutionary Party - ‘WE WANT ACTION TO WIN’ SAY GOURMET WORKERS

The News Line: News Wednesday, 14 September 2005 ‘WE WANT ACTION TO WIN’ SAY GOURMET WORKERS

Gate Gourmet workers fighting for reinstatement reading News Line reports of their the march into the TUC in Brighton on Monday to demand support, as they continued their picket near the factory at Heathrow yesterday

GATE GOURMET strikers were on the picket line at Heathrow Airport yesterday in high spirits, after their successful intervention at the TUC in Brighton on Monday.

Mrs S Dhillon said: ‘It was a great day yesterday. We won 100 per cent support.

‘They didn’t want to let us all go in, but in the end they had to.

‘Now we all want to be restored in our jobs on the old terms and conditions.’

Mahinder Parihar said: ‘Yesterday Tony Woodley said in front of the TUC that people want their jobs back and it’s true.

‘The first thing every single one of us wants is our jobs back. We don’t want compensation, we just want jobs on our original terms and conditions.

‘We are not happy with the TUC/T&G/Gate Gourmet agreement under which there are redundancies. We don’t want this agreement, we just want jobs.

‘Now we are waiting for the TUC to produce the results. What will they provide for us?’

Mrs K K Bassi said: ‘What we want to know is, are we going back into our jobs? We need an answer Yes, or No. All of us feel the same. We don’t like sitting here. We don’t want money. We need our jobs back now. Now the TUC must act.’

Fellow picket Baldev said: ‘We need support from the rest of the airport. They came out for one day and everything was affected worldwide, now we need them to come out again.’

Mrs R Sandhu said: ‘About 100 of us stayed on the picket line on Monday and when we heard about what happened at the TUC we were very pleased.

‘But only when we go back inside on our original terms and conditions will we really be happy. What we want is action to win.’

300 of the locked out workers went to Brighton on Monday and marched into the TUC Congress receiving a standing ovation from delegates, during which they shouted ‘No Redundancies – We Want Our Jobs!’

Many delegates and trade union leaders pledged support for their struggle for reinstatement and a resolution supporting them was passed unanimously by delegates.