The gate gourmet problem brought to light the ‘strength da Southall’. Southall, near the Heathrow is the home of majority of the Punjabi population in London. When Gates gourmet sacked a large number of labours most of whom were Indians settled in London, the women folks in Southall joined the crowd in protest against the management. Many of the ground staff of BA who were Indians too joined them.

It was the united strength of these which brought to light what a force it could be. BA had to cancel most of its flights taking off from Heathrow. It was then that BA realized that apart from the pilot and stewards it also takes many other people like the staff who handle your baggage, who supplies the food inside the flight etc to ensure that the flight could take off. The people who are involved in these works were predominantly desis (Punjabis in particular)

Insiders say that everything at Gate Gourmet were going smooth till it was taken over from a British firm by a American venture capital firm which put a German manager. This manager it is believed had sacked a lot of Indian workers to be replaced by Poles and other EU workers. This had sparked the protest.

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