Gate Gourmet (merged)

[Red Comet]

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.

[hafez]

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.:sad:

[Tan]

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..

[blueloo]

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.

[RevMan2]

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.

[aaaaa]

Where did Virgin go when they left Gate Gourmet and which company supplies BA at LGW?

aa

[cwatters]

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.

Way to go BA! Well done for the plans to "sack" the GG management, hire those 670 staff yourself and set up your own company.....or isn't that quite what you mean?

[springbok449]

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.

[GARDENER]

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!

[sinala1]

Where did Virgin go when they left Gate Gourmet and which company supplies BA at LGW?

When the GG contract expired, the tender was won by LSG SkyChefs...

[You Gimboid]

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!

[411A]

<<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...?:eek:

[Slim20]

Ah, yes, dear Frank...

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. (c) US Centennial of Flight Commisssion

[330 Man]

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

[Lou Scannon]

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.

[Bart O'Lynn]

ME I'll do it i'm sick of flying. Make more money selling the valubles out of the diaspora of lost luggage sitting around airports.

[sikeano]

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

:O :ok:

[brookhouse]

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.....

[Paterbrat]

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.

[frangatang]

Rumour has it that the T and G convenor for the baggage loaders in BA is also the convenor for gate gourmet.His wif also works for gate gormet.Any coincidence?

[Runway 31]

LONDON (Reuters) - Beleaguered British Airways faces a Tuesday night deadline to resolve a dispute with Gate Gourmet or the caterer will go into administration, a source close to the airline's sole supplier of in-flight meals said on Sunday.

The source said Gate Gourmet had set the deadline for reaching an agreement over the caterer's demands for better contract terms and higher prices.

"Unless we can agree, we'll go into administration on Wednesday," the source added.

Gate Gourmet, owned by U.S. private equity firm Texas Pacific Group, is also in talks with union representatives after it sacked 660 staff earlier this month, which triggered wildcat strikes and the cancellation of over 700 flights at London's Heathrow Airport. The union wants the sacked workers reinstated.

If Gate Gourmet goes into administration, the company would effectively be run by lawyers and could continue to provide a service to BA, but the move could equally lead to a new bout of disruption at Heathrow, the source said.

Gate Gourmet was not available to comment on the talks with British Airways but issued a statement saying it had won a High Court injunction on Sunday to restrain unlawful action by the dismissed workers and intimidation from picket lines.

"The judge has taken the unprecedented steps of making the TGWU (Transport and General Workers Union) now accountable for any illegal action by the dismissed workers and by naming 17 individuals who would be held personally accountable for any illegal action," said Eric Born, managing director of Gate Gourmet in London, in the statement.

"We hope today's ruling will stop the death threats and the physical and emotional intimidation and abuse which has been directed against our staff," he added.

A spokeswoman for British Airways said the airline was still in talks with Gate Gourmet over the weekend.

She declined to say how much British Airways stood to lose over the catering row, although the Financial Mail on Sunday reported that the airline's loss had reached about 50 million pounds ($90.2 million).

"It's just too early to say," the spokeswoman said.

Last week a source close to debt talks told Reuters that banks were considering foreclosing on Gate Gourmet's senior debt.

[freightdogg]

can anbody advise if the recent strike action affected any of ba's long haul gatwick departures.arrivals.regards freightdogg

[Thunderbug]

No

BA @ LGW use ALpha Catering

T'bug :ok:

[freightdogg]

thanks thunderbug,that should keep the wife happy, im getting it in the ear for booking a trip next week to the caribbean, and shes telling me i should have booked virgin...!:ok:

[BikerMark]

"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!"

Well no, it's not really that good an answer.

Have you seen the speed of a GG or LSG catering truck?


Mark

[INKJET]

For once it looks like bmi picked a good time to bin its inflight meals, the warm bacon rolls must look good after a tea & coffee BA flight.

Burt

[eurostar builder]

Just flew back on Ba this week and it was good not to have Food and just a lunch box.

[eurostar builder]

Why has it taken so long for GG to resume supllying fooe until now anyway

[whattimedoweland]

The first thing to do is point out that I work for BA,so maybe my opinion is somewhat onesided on this point!!.

Although members of the T&G(which I belong to)I for one felt it totally wrong for certain sections of the BA workforce to walk out in support of union members from another company,on this occasion Gate Gourmet.

Gate Gourmet get paid a sum of money which they agreed to to supply a service.Due to poor management of both their money and their employees they find themselves in a total mess.To sack their workers by megaphone(disgraceful) and then have they cheek to blame BA (THEIR CUSTOMER) for their situation I find beyond belief!!

:confused: .

They now try to push BA into a corner and basically bribe BA into extending it's contract with them on the pretence that by 5pm today 23rd August they will go into liquidation,lay off all staff and then no catering at all for BA.

I hope not to upset anyone especially the passengers who must be totally sick of the past couple of weeks.However I would like to see BA stand their ground on this and if GG go into liquidation then it is of their own doing.

BA should then offer to buy GG out right for a nominal fee and take on the whole workforce on BA contracts,together with buildings and vehicles as part of BA and get the operation back to normal ASAP.

Otherwise we will have to wait months for a new supplier to get equiped and new employees security checks and airside passes.

When BA are in the wrong I will NOT back them but on this occasion I feel they are not.

TIN HAT ON!!!! Opinions please.

WTDWL.

[HOODED]

Whilst I agree with your sentiments I do not think buying Gate out after they have gone into administration would be particularly quick. BA would probably go under if they were without in flight catering for that long. It's a dificult one and BA are between a rock and a hard place on this one.:(

[172driver]

does that mean no more 'All Day Deli' from tomorrow ??? - hurrahhhhh !!!!!

on a more serious note: BA should NOT cave in. Period.

[JamesT73J]

There's something odd about all of this; it seems like an extraordinary position for a professional organisation to get into.

I still don't understand where the sympathy strikers fit into things.

[Itswindyout]

to make BA a NO service airline.

Then reduce the CC to MIN for safety needs.

With perhaps only specialist catering supplier for First.

Give food in Exec lounge for Business/First the arrivals lounge remains a good service so food on arrival........a coke vending machine in the aircraft Galley. ( commission on the vending is good business ).

Sounds like a plan to me....

Windy

[whattimedoweland]

Maybe we could also have vending machines throughout World Traveller with top quality sandwiches ,baguettes and snacks, tea,coffee and duty free sales.Doors that open automatically from the flight deck in an emergency,toilets that clean and stock themselves and robots to carry out CPR and fight toilet fires when yet another idot puts their cigarette out in the waste bin!!....oh I forgot the safety demo......ah that's on the video that everyone watches rather than reading their F.T!!:O ;) .

Damm I've just done myself out of a job:{

WTDWL.

[Human Factor]

Some First services are sleeper as it is. ie. no food, eat in the lounge before departure. In fact, it's considered one of "the" places to be seen to eat in NY.

[WHBM]

Gate Gourmet are currently owned by Texas Pacific, a US-based venture capital company of the most landgrabbing sort, who bought the company from bankrupt Swiss a few years ago with the intention of just hiking the asset value by whatever means and then selling it for much more than they paid for it.

Having got into difficulties with things and thus being unable to sell it normally, their strategy today is to force BA to buy it for a considerable sum and get out with their proceeds, having manoeuvred BA into a difficult corner.

GG CEO is Dave Siegel, the one who appears on TV making the arrogant and aggressive statements. If he looks familiar, he is. He was CEO of US Airways (how are the mighty fallen) a few years ago when they were under administration the first time round, and had a similar attitude there.

Back at Texas Pacific, guess who is one of the principal investors ? None other than our good old friend Frank Lorenzo, who will need no introduction to obsrevers of abrasive management style in the aviation world ....

And heading the whole TP group up is David Bonderman, another familiarname. Not the same David Bonderman surely who is chairman of Ryanair ? Yes it is.

"Hey guys, here's a real good chance to screw BA, make some bucks, and get out of the GG hole, all in one".

[Stu Bigzorst]

£6.50 / hour

650 jobs

£6,500,000 (the cost of David Bonderman's birthday party).


Just some numbers for thought...

[Nearly Man]

Didn't BA get rid of it's own catering to cut costs?
Doing this and becoming reliant on a sole trader is extremely stupid.

Why is BA surprised that they were tucked up? Of course they still insist that Gate is the only one they can trade with because BA demanded an unsustainable price structure, one that no one can compete with!

Let em eat cake ... or cold bean wrap :}

[chuks]

The way of the future is to have a sort of shell company, where you just own the logo but have no responsibilities whatsoever to whoever is actually working for you. If they are in trouble, well, that's nothing to do with your company!

Of course at some point you may well find that a critical role is being carried out by p1ssed-off and underpaid, so demotivated, minions. When you try to get better performance out of them they shall just laugh at you. What, take away their menial job? When they might be better off on the dole?

I am working on an outsourced contract myself, one which uses multiple layers of outsourced labour. It can be rather amusing to see people trying to figure out just how to assign responsibility, sometimes. Henry Ford may have had a better way of doing it after all. Or, put it another way, there is something to be said for paternalism!

[TopBunk]

BA should then offer to buy GG out right for a nominal fee and take on the whole workforce on BA contracts,together with buildings and vehicles as part of BA and get the operation back to normal ASAP.

That's the last bl00dy thing BA should do - tie itself into restrictive T&G work practices (full days pay for half a days work at GG, etc.

No, if GG go under, there will be people around willing to pick the pieces out of the ashes, and the GG workers may well find themselves re-employed but without the current restricitve practises they'enjoy'. One thing is for sure, however, the catering contract for BA requires the utilisation of the GG premises and infrastructure, whoever may run it.

It may be that BA 'help' someone take over the GG business from the administrators (if it fails), but the people will never get BA contracts.

[AVeight]

whattimedoweland,

Have to say that I agree with your comments. In no way can BA be blamed for the mickey mouse management of GG. I have to also say that BA have done themselves little favour by putting all their eggs in one basket and appointing one sole supplier for all their flights....it may be that GG now have BA over a barrel!!

AVeight

[Wycombe]

If ever there was an example of why organisations should NOT outsource operations that are right close the Customer, this is it.

[RevMan2]

Why on EARTH would BA want to repurchase an outfit that's leaking red ink? And why would they want to import an industrial relations problem of this magnitude?

Shareholders should be asking the following questions

1 - Given the extreme dependency on a single-source supplier, why didn't BA's management work towards a win-win solution with GG?
2 - Why weren't BA's management aware of the situation at GG and why didn't they intervene to avoid it?
3 - Why didn't BA have contingency plans in place?


Useful article from the Economist here (http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=4307627),

[Ropey Pilot]

£6.50 / hour

T&G work practices (full days pay for half a days work at GG

Not completely up to speed with all that has happened etc so could someone tell me how workers on an hourly rate get a full days pay for half a days work?

Not having a go - just confused, surely it must be one or the other?:confused:

[newswatcher]

Hooded the whole idea of administration is to allow a company to be taken over swiftly, if appropriate. It is basically "business as normal", with a team of insolvency "specialists" temporarily taking the helm. Not the same as "receivership".

However, for BA to make the "buy" decision might take a long time!

[gas path]

.........................T&G work practices (full days pay for half a days work at GG
You can probably take that with a 'pinch of salt':=

What I do find interesting however is the news of BA board members sold some share options the day before the dispute.:hmm:

[pax britanica]

I work in the telecommunications industry and have a fair bit of experience of outsourcing. We outsourced our catering but then that wasnt integral to our product or brand reputation.
We also outsourced things like Payroll and cleaning etc and finance and catering companies etc outsource their telecoms services to us.

I cannot believe that a large modern corporation like BA wh basically have a well respected brand and a range of products that on world standards are good ( they are not the best but they are much better than most) has managed to find itself held hostage to fortune in this way.

It is bad enough going through the grief of the last few weeks without finding themselves having to pay more for a proven sub standard service with very fragile future prospects and almost assured labour difficulties due to the management style.

It is incredible that so called professional managers could do this. Even if they thought they were outsourcing the management problems they allegedly had with their own in house catering and if RE wasnt going Iwould be surprised if their were not calls for his head and justifiably so.

Outsourcing can work very well in all industries but in recent years people have learned that you never ever outsource to a company that is unstable and certainly not for anything that is either mission critical or brand damaging.

As it was explained to me once in the context of a marriage . If you are a man and you are very busy by all means outsource some traditional male marital duties like the gardening and decorating but you dont pay someone else to sleep with your wife.

PB

[davieboy001]

i hope that BA dont cave in, with all due respect, the 'militant' actions in my opinion would have been enough to say 'screw it', who else is there who can provide us with what we are looking for.

Good luck BA

:p

[WHBM]

Indeed, how could they have been so silly ....

Well, management are incentivised for profitability and increased dividends. And profitability this year, not at some date 10 years down the line.

Back in 1997 Bob Ayling (remember him) and crew were looking to get some increase in the finances by selling off the catering arm. So what was it worth ?

As it stood, not a lot. 5 times annual profits (not much) plus the scrap value of the equipment that wasn't just leased. Not much there either. Say £1m.

OK. But sell the business with a contract to supply some BA meals for the next 5 years. Now you could get £10m as the buyer can see guaranteed revenue.

What about a longer contract, for the next 10 years. Now it's worth £25m.

And what about an EXCLUSIVE contract for the next 10 years, keeping any competitor from growing at Heathrow. Now it's worth £50m.

OK Mr Ayling, we can have either £1m, £10m, £25m or £50m in cash for catering. Which one do you want ? Which reflects most in your bonus for this year. By the way, you are off at the end of this year, aren't you ....

Any problems they stacked up for the future are completely by the by.

Many shares in companies like BA are held by pension funds, who are under constant pressure to report maximum CURRENT YEAR income from their investments. It all got solemnly reported in league tables in 1997 as "Good/Bad investment profits by pension funds", in the same newspapers who are currently criticising the BA single-sourcing. Again futures are someone else's problem. So that's why Bob Ayling was on the incentive deal he was on. The pension funds in turn were paying out pensions to those who wanted the maximum cash return in the current year. Quite possibly half the pensioners being paid out by a pension fund in 1997 are dead now and therefore couldn't have cared less about any long-term future problems.

[Charlie32]

Firstly as an exec member of many years standing, I must say that someone should consider prosecuting Gate "Gourmet" under the trades description act. The Business class food is amongst the worst I have encountered.

Secondly I find myself on the one hand sympathising with BAs present predicament, having been held to ransom and having been subjected to illegal and completely unjustifiable secondary strike action.

However, I also believe that to a very large extent, they are vcitims of their own corporate greed, in having outsourced an element of their business which is central to their image as a full service carrier.

Whilst I have to date stuck with BA over this difficult period, (and to be fair been credited with a big chunk of BA airmiles for having done so), I must warn them that my patience and that of other regulars is limited. I could tolerate the loss of my translatlantic done to death filet steak, but I would struggle without the bar which is generally pretty good.

Maybe it is time for big corporations like BA to start taking back responsibility for its own services. As a paying customer, my contract is with BA not GG. I am getting increasingly fed up with the excuse, that its not our fault due ATC, Airport authority, baggage handler catere etc etc over whom we have no control. GET CONTROL!!

[cjhants]

ropey pilot - this is how it works.
GG pay low hourly rate, but agree job and finish with staff.
this means for example a driver on an 8 hour shift being rostered to do say 4 deliveries. if he finishes in 4 hours, he`s off. if GG want him to stay to do an extra run, they have to guarantee him 4 hours at overtime rate.
all very 1970`s, and all very well if you are making big profits. but if you are losing £500k per week, you need to sort these (inherited from BA) practices out.
surely it would be better to negotiate a slightly better hourly rate with staff, in exchange for more up to date working practices. but of course staff (and unions) dont want to give any ground.
GG staff need to wake up, we are 30 years on from this type of thing.

[patdavies]

Not completely up to speed with all that has happened etc so could someone tell me how workers on an hourly rate get a full days pay for half a days work?

Not having a go - just confused, surely it must be one or the other?

According to the article in the ST, an example is that the drivers are rostered to complete 5 (I think) trips per shift. Once these are complete, and they may only take a couple of hours, any further work is overtime at a 2.5 x basic rate.

Also if one section in the plant finishes, there is absolutely no helping other sections who are behind/overloaded; this then leads to some staff standing around whilst others are paid overtime.

These appalling working practices have been both inherited from BA (under TUPE) and also grown up during the ongoing operation. AIUI, GG has to provide food to BA for free if the delivery is 15 minutes late - it is therefore (in the short term) easier to give and and/or buy off militant or stroppy staff rather than make the loss.

BTW, the ST article quotes GG as saying that they are losing £ 500K per DAY.

Far from £6.50/hr, the article quotes the drivers on £20-25K pa

edited to say just beaten to it by cjhants

[Carnage Matey!]

Funny old thing, the GG drivers work the same way as the BA bus and tug drivers. Done you're quota of jobs for the day? Best knock off early then! Nice work (if you can call it that) if you can get it.

[Diverse]

Seems a lot of discussion about why BA outsourced it's catering. Just curious to know how many other airlines operating out of Heathrow do their own catering or own the company that does it for them? Also what are the other airlines that used Gate Gourmet doing for their catering, or was BA GG's only contract and therefore they are just as guilty of putting all their eggs in one basket.

[Lou Scannon]

First BA will dump Gate Gourmet and then support a viable replacement...but certainly not take them over.

Then when things are settled down, they will deal with the employees who seem to have loyalty only to themselves and the T&G. My belief is that within a year the whole LHR "bag loaders and drivers" will be sold off. Whatever the redundancy costs are, it has to be cheaper than this annual "display".

Thank heavens I am booked Virgin Upper Class next week!

[patdavies]

AIUI, part of GG's problem is that a few months ago, Virgin didn't renew their contract and went to LSG Skychefs. This has left GG overmanned since they lost this major contract.

[Jet II]

Hows about BA dump GG now - fit microwaves instead of ovens and contract the major supermarket chains to supply TV dinners? (contract several so that you are not tied to one supplier with the resultant probs we see with GG)

Marks and Sparks could supply First,
Waitrose could supply Club,
Sainsbury's WT Plus
and dear old Tesco's down the back:O

Face it whatever they supply has got to be better than the muck GG turn out.

Oh and the boys in Engineering will do the booze cruise to Calais to supply the drinks!

Now where's Willie?:D :D :D

[ALLDAYDELI]

I'm curious to know, who else are GG's customers?
Are they having the same dramas as BA. Surely GG has more than 1x customer at Heathrow..??:eek:

[whattimedoweland]

TOPBUNK
When a low paid catering worker goes on strike they are 'militant'. So if a 'top of the' ladder pilot goes on strike how are they described?.Just a thought.

Also Topbunk maybe you or one of the frustrated Heathrow based pilots from any airline please explain to Charlie32 how you,I and everyone else gets frustrated with ATC at LHR and why we have NO control over them.C32 maybe you can join our Leadership team and show them how to do it.You may still struggle with weather delays unless you know someone in VERY high places!!. Charlie 32 ,after 6-10 days away from my wife and kids I want to get home as much as you so I understand your point but as an Exec Card holder do you think that BA and other airlines burn expensive fuel in the hold waiting to land for fun and in turn put your/company's ticket fare up?!!.


LOU,,
You may want to ask the cheesed off Virgin Cabin crew about their generous 3-4% offer from SRB and Co and their plans as crew!!. Where are you flying to?,is there a third carrier?!!.Only joking, have a good flight
;) .

WTDWL.

[Lou Scannon]

whattimedoweland:

You may be right! I'm secretly hoping that Virgin will make a fantastic bid for my two tickets so they can re-sell to some businessman who must travel!

Mrs Scannon always takes crisps to the airport just in case!:ok:

[Behind the Curtain]

Says the BBC... (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4175316.stm)

The union at the centre of the dispute over the sacking of 670 workers at an airline catering company expressed anger as talks have been adjourned.

T&G chief negotiator Brendan Gold said Gate Gourmet directors walked out of talks at a crucial stage on Tuesday.

But the company said it was "cautiously optimistic" of reaching a deal and would be back in talks on Wednesday.

Chairman David Siegel said a move to place the company into administration would now be put on hold.

Some good points made here. I particularly like Pax Britannica's metaphor.

Hopelessly unversed in the ways of business as I am, I feel sorry for the people whose plans were disrupted by the strikes but I can't accept that BA are blameless. If a deal is looks too good, it probably is. If you're going to sell off your staff don't you have a responsibility to ask "How are you going to treat them?"

Told you I was ignorant.

[Diverse]

Clients of Gate Gourmet


British Airways
American Airlines
Continental Airlines
Iberia Airlines
Qantas Airlines
SAS
Thai Airways
United Airlines

How many of the others are experiencing supply problems and threats of industrial action from the unions and demands to provide the company with a better contract. You can't tell me that all the others aren't trying to get the absolute max for their money as well and really pushing the contract costs.

[PAXboy]

Red Comet Now Sir Rod has vowed that Gate Gourmet's £130m annual contract will be axed when it comes up for renewal next year. That was the first post in this thread and on the BBC TV news at 22:00 BST and on the BBC website A new catering deal with British Airways was struck earlier on Tuesday, but it is dependent on labour issues being resolved.So it looks as if Rod has not won that point.

pax britanica I cannot believe that a large modern corporation like BA ... It is incredible that so called professional managers could do this. To which WHBM nailed the reply to the mast. It might be summarised as "Oh yes they CAN be that stupid."! After 27 years in commerce (in telecommunications) and watching the outsourcing band wagon roll from 1988 in New York, I am now enjoying watching it come full circle. In recent months, many IT companies have started to change their policy on outsourcing but I won't clog this thread with details.

Charlie 32 someone should consider prosecuting Gate "Gourmet" under the trades description act. The Business class food is amongst the worst I have encountered. Well, it might be but that is soley down to BA. They specify and pay. It is now apparent that BA's mistake was to try and save too much money and GG's mistake was to agree a contract for too little money.

Lou Scannon First BA will dump Gate Gourmet and then support a viable replacementNope!A new catering deal with British Airways was struck earlier on Tuesday, but it is dependent on labour issues being resolved.

--------------------
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

[Rollingthunder]

So, what else have you got for caterers in LHR. GG and LSG Skychefs? Anyone else - Cara?

LSG must be rubbing their hands together.

Don't forget GG is talking of shutting down their UK - not just LHR operations - or at least putting them all into administration.

A totally incompetent situation.

[answer=42]

BA has agreed terms with GG, right? But these terms are conditional on GG agreeing a deal with the T&G. So BA have given a veto to the T&G. But there's a catch. The T&G has to choose - either agree a deal with GG which might not give them everything they want or see GG go into administration.

I reckon that the T&G would rather see GG burn in hell rather than walk away from its members, right or wrong. If T&G's leadership don't stand up for their members who they see as having been victimised, they will lose the next union elections.

So, no more GG. Into administration we go.

Can't split the company up because operate from one site. Any company that buys it is going to have to make redundancies and at the same time get a sustainable deal with the union. Tricky stuff. Not many would want to try this for a low margin business.

So, what to do? BA won't buy it back, not even on a temporary basis.

Dah-dah solution: employee buy out. There's got to be some management skills knocking around inside the staff. Who better to make responsible for the tough decisions that lie ahead? And who better to get the rewards (including the staff that get made redundant) if they get it right.

[Charlie32]

whattimedoweland

The important difference is that you get paid to be irritated, by ATC, LHR, no ground staff, no baggage handler, no dispatcher, no marshaller, no steps, guidance U/S, no gate, (my favourite the late inbound A/C!!) etc etc etc.

As SLF I'm paying for that service, and my contract is with BA, none of the above. Therefore it is up to BA to make sure they sort those things out, and do not just keep relying on the excuse that its nothing to do with them. IT IS!!

[aaaaa]

Taken from the BBC on line UK news, there is more of it but quote

"Hopes for fresh face-to-face talks to resolve the jobs row at Gate Gourmet have been dampened by the surprise departure of its chairman to the US.

A spokesman for Gate Gourmet told the BBC that David Siegel had returned to Texas "for a few days" and would be returning at the weekend.

The firm stressed that "informal" talks are continuing despite his absence. "

The wait continues, I hope BA are trying to do other things, why should it be held to ransome by GG. What is GG trying to do, it has an offer and surely there must be some compromise on taking back some if not all the sacked staff. BA seems has given them a better deal, are they blackmailing BA into more. I hope BA doesn't give in.

aa

[Paterbrat]

Looking increasingly as if GG staff may have walked themselves right out of their jobs no matter what they thought of the conditions.

Perhaps might concentrate their minds on the fact that the company is no longer owned by BA who could be held to ransom on a regular basis and not able to fold and simply walk away.

Might also bring to their attention that there were /are other people who are quite prepared to work for the conditions they had or less. Something that occasionaly does have to be accepted in a competative market no matter how distatefull it might be.

[aaaaa]

One of the UK main TV on line news web sites yesterday said that BA were prepared to sign a deal with Gate Gourmet for the next ten years and that Gate Gourmet would be the sole catering suppliers for BA at LHR.

Surely BA could find themselves in the same situation again every year or so if this deal goes ahead.

I hope I am wrong and that it was a bit of mis-reporting. Did anyone else see it?

aa

[Paterbrat]

With the 'family' bond so strongly demonstrated, together with the f you j attitude by that group of workers, that would almost garantee perrenial trouble.

[Jamesair]

What about the reported hygiene problems? Pax are going to think carefully before booking BA long haul until they feel confident that adequate testing of hygiene and food standards etc is in place.

[cjhants]

jamesair,
having visited most of the LHR catering units over the last few years, they all have hygene problems. i would not eat the food. safer to buy a sandwich before you board. but i guess you dont know where that was made either!!.

[cjhants]

if anybody saw package holiday undercover on TV last night, my thoughts on the standard of sandwiches and hygene in the terminals at UK airports were confirmed.
best make a carry-on at home.