The head of Gate Gourmet has said he is willing to reinstate up to 400 of the in-flight caterer’s 670 sacked workers.
Chairman David Siegel insisted the business would fail if he reinstated everyone, according to the BBC labour affairs correspondent Stephen Cape.
All 2,000 staff at Heathrow have been offered a voluntary redundancy package, in a bid to cut the workforce.
Siegel said he would prefer not to reinstate any of the sacked employees, but in an effort to reach a deal with the Transport & General Workers’ Union (T&G) he would take back up to 400, Cape said.
In a separate interview with the Daily Telegraph, Siegel said a “hardline, hardcore minority” of around 200 employees had control over the workforce and the company and were leading it to “death’s doorstep”.
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Gate Gourmet said it needs to cut staffing levels to help it return to profitability.
Talks between the company and the T&G will resume once it is known how many workers have accepted the redundancy package.
