Staff numbers rise at Gate Gourmet as myths addressed

One of Gate Gourmet senior management team has slammed the inflight catererís trade unions for creating myths during last yearís industrial dispute, in an exclusive interview in tomorrowís Personnel Today magazine.

Richard Wells, vice president, HR Europe for Gate Gourmet, revealed that nearly 300 of the 800 staff at inflight caterer Gate Gourmet, sacked for their illegal action, are back at work almost six months after the original wildcat strike of 10 August.

He said recruiting new staff has been a challenge - not helped by some of the myths created by unions and the media such as ëworkers were poorly paidí and ëwomen discriminationí, when in fact pay rates were and are 10 to 30 per cent above the market in the area and some 55 per cent of workers dismissed, were men.

Wells also disputed the claim that Gate Gourmet provoked workers into striking. ìThis was the seventh illegal strike in three years,î he said.

Ultimately, however, Wells blamed Gate Gourmet’s own management for what happened. ìSome outdated working practices hadnít changed for 13 years, but the company just put up with it.î

Daniel Thomas, news editor at Personnel Today, said: ìThe row between British Airways and Gate Gourmet is likely to go down in history as a textbook example of an industrial dispute gone wrong. But itís also arguable that the media frenzy caused more damage than the strike itself. Leave the unions to their own devices and theyíre quick to issue fiery stories that make memorable headlines. Gate Gourmet needed a crisis communication strategy in place, instead of firefighting the whole time.î