TGWU calls for boycott of Lufthansa

The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) is urging airline travellers to boycott Lufthansa flights in support of 270 workers sacked by airline caterer LSG Sky Chefs last November.

Advertisements urging the boycott appeared in last week's Financial Times and Guardian following the breakdown last month of talks supervised by the Arbitration and Conciliation Advisory Service (Caterer, 17 June, page 10).

A union official said Sky Chefs, which is 47% owned by Lufthansa, had offered to reinstate only six of the workers dismissed after two one-day strikes over pay and conditions.

But a spokesman for Sky Chefs said full reinstatement was unrealistic because the company had recruited 265 new staff since the sackings. He added that it had promised to allow dismissed staff to apply for vacancies as they arose.

General manager Tim Ottridge also claimed that just 20 workers had accepted the opportunity to return to work on improved conditions the day dismissal notices were issued.

Non-stop picketing continues outside Sky Chef's base in Feltham, Greater London, and demonstrations have resumed outside the German embassy in central London.