Gate Gourmet (merged)
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Gate Gourmet
BA will sack strike-hit caterer
Christopher Leake, Mail on Sunday
14 August 2005
BRITISH Airways is preparing to sack the hard-line American-owned catering firm whose strike has cost the airline almost £50m and brought chaos to more than 100,000 passengers.
Outgoing BA chief executive Sir Rod Eddington has told senior colleagues he is sickened by the way Gate Gourmet sacked 670 mainly Asian and female staff by megaphone and email last week.
Now Sir Rod has vowed that Gate Gourmet's £130m annual contract will be axed when it comes up for renewal next year.
BA executives are actively searching for other firms to take over the provision of 80,000 meals daily for passengers flying from Heathrow. It will no longer depend on a single supplier to prevent a repeat of the airline being held to ransom.
Close friends say Sir Rod is ' incandescent' over the confrontational tactics adopted by Gate Gourmet's chairman and chief executive, American David Siegel.
Mr Siegel is a business associate of David Bonderman, a founder of Gate Gourmet's US private equity owner, Texas Pacific Group. Mr Bonderman, who has a fortune estimated at £6billion, is chairman of Ryanair.
Christopher Leake, Mail on Sunday
14 August 2005
BRITISH Airways is preparing to sack the hard-line American-owned catering firm whose strike has cost the airline almost £50m and brought chaos to more than 100,000 passengers.
Outgoing BA chief executive Sir Rod Eddington has told senior colleagues he is sickened by the way Gate Gourmet sacked 670 mainly Asian and female staff by megaphone and email last week.
Now Sir Rod has vowed that Gate Gourmet's £130m annual contract will be axed when it comes up for renewal next year.
BA executives are actively searching for other firms to take over the provision of 80,000 meals daily for passengers flying from Heathrow. It will no longer depend on a single supplier to prevent a repeat of the airline being held to ransom.
Close friends say Sir Rod is ' incandescent' over the confrontational tactics adopted by Gate Gourmet's chairman and chief executive, American David Siegel.
Mr Siegel is a business associate of David Bonderman, a founder of Gate Gourmet's US private equity owner, Texas Pacific Group. Mr Bonderman, who has a fortune estimated at £6billion, is chairman of Ryanair.
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Are BA still not giving hot food on their flights and will this continue for long? Hopefully BAs new meal provider will give good meals like gate gourmet used to, I always used get the chicken biriyani, I will miss that.
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Quote:
"Mr. Siegel is a business associate of David Bonderman, a founder of Gate Gourmet's US private equity owner, Texas Pacific Group. Mr. Bonderman, who has a fortune estimated at £6billion, is chairman of Ryanair."
Hmm, nah they wouldn’t have, well maybe..
"Mr. Siegel is a business associate of David Bonderman, a founder of Gate Gourmet's US private equity owner, Texas Pacific Group. Mr. Bonderman, who has a fortune estimated at £6billion, is chairman of Ryanair."
Hmm, nah they wouldn’t have, well maybe..
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Wish they would take QANTAS's Australian catering supplier - "Snapfresh" -"Crapfresh" in reality - anything is better than this rubbish they freeze 6months in advance. Its a pity Neil Perry put his name on the food. Its disgraceful.
There are probably only 2 outfits worldwide with the capacity to deliver to BA - Gate Gourmet and LSG SkyChefs.
And if LSG SkyChefs ahs to take on TGWU people, they'll have a similar problem on their hands.
And if LSG SkyChefs ahs to take on TGWU people, they'll have a similar problem on their hands.
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Outgoing BA chief executive Sir Rod Eddington has told senior colleagues he is sickened by the way Gate Gourmet sacked 670 mainly Asian and female staff by megaphone and email last week. Now Sir Rod has vowed that Gate Gourmet's £130m annual contract will be axed when it comes up for renewal next year.
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The main thing that seems to be forgoten is the fact that what realy grounded the airline and has done for the last 3 summers is BAs own staff ie this time the luggage loaders...
No matter what catering company they use this will happen again...
However would be wise for BA not to have all their eggs in one basket in the future...And use more than one supplier at a big base such as LHR.
No matter what catering company they use this will happen again...
However would be wise for BA not to have all their eggs in one basket in the future...And use more than one supplier at a big base such as LHR.
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Springbok I think you have hit the nail on the head my money is certainly on BA utilising 2-3 catering companies.....as suggested though maybe they need to look closer to home!
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Bokkie has the argument nailed.
When GG staff went on strike they thought it would ground BA. BA wisely decided to stay out of it and carried on operating flights without catering, and the passengers were able to accept this.
So the shop stewards at GG went to speak to their relatives at BA and later that evening, BA staff walked out in "sympathy". So the airline was eventually grounded and the action served its purpose.
The real answer is not to change suppliers but to convince GG to move its HQ about 40 miles west to find a less well-connected local workforce!
When GG staff went on strike they thought it would ground BA. BA wisely decided to stay out of it and carried on operating flights without catering, and the passengers were able to accept this.
So the shop stewards at GG went to speak to their relatives at BA and later that evening, BA staff walked out in "sympathy". So the airline was eventually grounded and the action served its purpose.
The real answer is not to change suppliers but to convince GG to move its HQ about 40 miles west to find a less well-connected local workforce!
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As the world turns...
<<Mr Siegel is a business associate of David Bonderman, a founder of Gate Gourmet's US private equity owner, Texas Pacific Group. Mr Bonderman, who has a fortune estimated at £6billion, is chairman of Ryanair.>>
Ah yes, the Texas Pacific Group.
One of the original founders , and still a shareholder is....Frank Lorenzo.
Any bells ringing now...?
Ah yes, the Texas Pacific Group.
One of the original founders , and still a shareholder is....Frank Lorenzo.
Any bells ringing now...?
Grim Sleeper
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Ah, yes, dear Frank...
(c) US Centennial of Flight Commisssion
Francisco (Frank) A. Lorenzo was one of the most notorious players in the history of commercial aviation in the United States. Born in 1940, he was the son of Spanish immigrants in Queens in New York. He went to Columbia University and then received a business degree from Harvard Business School in 1963. He had an early interest in aviation that led him to take control of Texas International Airlines (TIA), a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy, in 1971. The Deregulation Act of 1978 allowed Lorenzo to expand his business dealings and he systematically began to acquire companies such as Continental Airlines, New York Air, Frontier Airlines, and Eastern Airlines, in his bid to compete with the new non-unionized airlines. By the mid-1980s, he had acquired a reputation for vicious business practices that were particularly unfair to the labor force. By filing for bankruptcy at different points in his career, he was able to bypass unionized labor and impose harsh working conditions on the employees of his various corporations. His rise to the top was finally thwarted when Eastern Airlines collapsed in 1991 and a U.S. bankruptcy court ruled that Lorenzo was unfit to run the company. Lorenzo left the debacle with a vast personal fortune and tried to found a new airline called Friendship in 1993, but the U.S. Department of Transportation did not grant him permission.
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Lets all keep in mind that Dave (Bugsy) Siegel was the 40 year old wonder kid that was hired to replace Steve Wolf at Usairways. His job was to steer U through bankruptcy at all costs and see to their emergence from bankruptcy a leaner, meaner machine. Unfortunately this kid could not hit his own ass with a 10 man working party. After 2 billion in savings a year from employees and vendors, and getting the pension funds of all employees terminated by the courts he left a company that still has no chance of paying their bills. He did such a good job that the company was back in bankruptcy 18 months after emerging the first time.
AND, Texas Pacific was going to buy controlling interest in Usair when they emerged from brankruptcy the first time, but they were outbid by the Alabama Public Employees Retirement fund, who now own a majority in usairways.
Kid Siegel is a little boy with big toys. I am surprised he used a megaphone to fire people. I would expect him to just lock the door one day with no explination. His and Frank Lorenzo's name in the same sentence is classic. They are both cut from the same mold. The only difference is that super Dave still plays nentendo and Frank probably never goes near a computer.
Regards,
330 man
AND, Texas Pacific was going to buy controlling interest in Usair when they emerged from brankruptcy the first time, but they were outbid by the Alabama Public Employees Retirement fund, who now own a majority in usairways.
Kid Siegel is a little boy with big toys. I am surprised he used a megaphone to fire people. I would expect him to just lock the door one day with no explination. His and Frank Lorenzo's name in the same sentence is classic. They are both cut from the same mold. The only difference is that super Dave still plays nentendo and Frank probably never goes near a computer.
Regards,
330 man
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Gate Gourmet is a done deal, just give Rod a little time.
The big question is who will load bags for BA when he offloads the present employees.
With what they cost BA so far this year in a display of peverse loyalty, it can only be a matter of time.
The big question is who will load bags for BA when he offloads the present employees.
With what they cost BA so far this year in a display of peverse loyalty, it can only be a matter of time.
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gate gourmet
rod is leaving so he does not really give a to*s as to who is going to supply next he got his money as long as gate gourmet is not supplying at the white hall he is allright nice one rod give more statements about political correctness and all that will go a long way in your next job
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The reported response from Rod smacks of the familiar BA management skills-set. Confuse activity with progress, hold numerous meetings, issue unreadable bulletins crafted and approved by twenty people and lambast anyone and anything outside the company instead of confronting internal labour/cost issues. As a thirty plus year employee I can tell you that nothing has changed, the place remains chock full of no-go areas for management and it's arguably the biggest and best paid holiday camp in the south east. Fiddling with GG's internal behaviours will solve nothing but at least it (hopefully) gives the uninitiated the impression that something positive, dynamic, inclusive, environmentally friendly and imaginative is being done.
Rant over....sorry...back to the cricket.....
Rant over....sorry...back to the cricket.....
I am a figment of my own imagination
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If it was 'family links' that brought BA to a halt then perhaps both BA and GG would be better off without such family members who obviously have no compunction about industrial chaos and little time for established procedures for arbitration.