Union row stops BA in-flight food

By David Millward, Transport Correspondent

(Filed: 11/08/2005)

Thousands of British Airways long-haul passengers were given packed lunches and vouchers yesterday after the airline's catering contractors sacked hundreds of workers.

While passengers reacted stoically to the withdrawal of in-flight food, there were chaotic scenes at the factory run by Gate Gourmet, near Heathrow's Terminal Four, after the dismissals.

Police were called to the works canteen in the morning after 350 staff on the early shift staged a sit-in. A second batch of around 150 sackings was carried out by megaphone in the car park.

Gate Gourmet, which has supplied BA's catering since 1997, accused its staff - members of the Transport and General Workers Union - of taking part in unballoted industrial action.

But the union said the company had carried out a premeditated lock out, claiming that dismissal letters were ready for staff when they arrived for work. Around 10,000 passengers on 41 long-haul BA flights were affected by the dispute. BA staff handed out "deliboxes" - containing cheese, biscuits, flapjacks and bottled water - to passengers. They also gave out vouchers which could be used to buy food at airport take-away outlets.

The airline also offered refunds for those unwilling to travel without in-flight catering. Compensation for those who were denied the service they paid for will be considered on a case-by-case basis, a spokesman said.

Cathay Pacific, the other airline that uses Gate Gourmet, was unaffected.

The dispute at Gate Gourmet centres on the firm's plans to change working practices which, it says, will lead to it losing £25 million this year. It said inflexibility had led to staff being paid a full day's wage for half a day's work.

The TGWU said its members had been incensed by the hiring of casual staff at a time when the company was looking to cut jobs.

source: telegraph.co.uk

no food on ba flights is actually an improvement.

i flew long haul with them twice last month , heathrow to hong kong and back , using their premium economy service.

the meagre rations of awful food served up were disgusting.

one meal and one snack (a plastic wrapped egg croissant) on a 12 hour flight.

better to buy some decent sandwiches at the airport and carry them on , or buy some marks and spencer frozen meals and bribe the miserable crew to microwave them for you.

flew back to thailand from london on EVA , nothing but praise for that airline.

BA still stands for Bloody Awful , not Born Again, I will be truly desperate before I ever fly them again. Sad

New flight attendents is what they need - old fossils with attitude need to pack it in.

The dispute at Gate Gourmet centres on the firm's plans to change working practices which, it says, will lead to it losing £25 million this year.

Why does the firm want to change working practices if it will lead to it losing 25 mill?