Strike at Gate Gourmet D�sseldorf - still standing firm !

Posted to the IUF website 25-Nov-2005

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Gate Gourmet workers at D�sseldorf airport demonstrating against cutbacks in social protection and for fair wages for hard work.


Gate Gourmet workers have been on strike for decent wages and working conditions at D�sseldorf airport since 7 October. Gate Gourmet staff work 24/7, with the high degree of flexibility that makes round-the-clock work possible, in order to provide Gate Gourmet's clients - primarily holiday carrier LTU and Turkish Airlines - with on-board meals. The striking workers have been standing firm for 7 weeks now, but management remains intransigent - even taking two weeks to respond to the government arbitration agency's offer for mediation - and has even openly evoked the possibility of doing away with the CBA, a situation which the union will never accept.

Gate Gourmet has brought in strike-breakers from a labour-hire agency to deliver airline meals. On 18 November, an incident occurred as the lorry access to the site was blocked by an exceptionally large number of well-wishers gathered to support the strikers. A Gate Gourmet delivery van driven by a contracted strike-breaker approached the entrance at constant speed and ran into the crowd, which scattered only just in time. The company depends on strike-breakers - contracted drivers and production workers in a non-unionised Gate Gourmet kitchen - to continue basic operations.

Messages of solidarity continue to arrive from all corners of the globe and solidarity visits have been especially uplifting to the strikers. A delegation of 35 Gate Gourmet workers attended the recent 140th anniversary celebration of their union, the NGG, where they received a standing ovation from the 250 invited guests as they entered the banquet hall. The chairman of the German trade union federation (DGB), Michael Sommer, participated on 1 December in a rally in D�sseldorf to honour the striking comrades and pledged the full support of the German trade union movement.

For background information on the dispute and on how to show solidarity by sending protest and solidarity messages, please click here.

The IUF thanks you in advance for your solidarity and support.