Nearly 700 workers at catering firm Gate Gourmet have asked to leave the firm and take enhanced redundancy money now on offer – worth between £6,000 and £12,000 each.
Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, revealed the offer to staff ahead of critical talks with management today.
Under a deal with the union, the management wrote to its 1,400 existing staff and the 660 strikers asking whether they would accept improved redundancy terms.
The company is offering 2.5 times the minimum statutory rate.
About 300 of the 660 workers who were sacked by Gate Gourmet have opted to leave and take the money. The remainder who have asked for redundancy are currently employed by the firm.
The T&G is also pressing the government to look at changing employment laws to allow secondary picketing of employers that are tied up in the same dispute.
