Ailing in-flight caterer Gate Gourmet and trade union officials said today that they have agreed to explore voluntary redundancies over the next week in a bid to resolve a crippling labour row.
The breakthrough - made in talks last night - came as the US-owned company said it was investigating allegations made in a newspaper of security and hygiene breaches at its branch at London's Heathrow airport, which serves thousands of meals on British Airways flights every day.
Gate Gourmet said it will send letters in the coming days to all 1,400 staff at Heathrow as well as 670 sacked workers asking them if they want to quit. The firm is expected to meet members of the Transport and General Workers' Union again next week to discuss the responses and what to do next.
A trade union spokesman described the agreement in the long-running dispute as 'significant', but warned there was still a long way to go.
For its part, Gate Gourmet said it needed to cut 675 jobs at its loss-making Heathrow operation, and noted that it retained the right to make forced redundancies if insufficient volunteers step forward.
Gate Gourmet made headlines more than two weeks ago when it sacked 670 workers in an industrial dispute triggered by a restructuring plan to stem massive losses. The mass dismissal inspired a wildcat strike by many sympathetic BA ground staff, which forced the airline to cancel hundreds of
flights at Heathrow, disrupting travel for 100,000 passengers.
In a further sign of trouble, The Times newspaper said today that one of its reporters was hired as a casual worker at Gate Gourmet despite bogus references, and that he was never subject to body searches when reporting to work at its Heathrow premises.
On the shop floor, reporter Rajeev Syal - who was hired through a recruitment agency - was instructed on how to load, then seal drinks trolleys for US-bound flights.
'It would have been simple to hide a small bomb in a tray,' he wrote. 'A gun or a knife would have been a lot easier.' He also alleged that casual workers paid 'lip service' to hygiene.
A Gate Gourmet spokesman said the firm was investigating the allegations, which it took very seriously.
