HOPES of a truce between British Airways’ catering workers at Heathrow and their employer were dashed yesterday by the unexpected departure of the company’s chairman to the United States.

Formal talks between Gate Gourmet and the Transport and General Workers’ Union (T&G) will not resume until Tuesday at the earliest, as David Siegel returned to the US for the long weekend over a personal matter.

It had been hoped that a deal could have been struck yesterday, thereby averting the threat of further disruption to British Airways flights at Heathrow over the bank holiday weekend.

Union officials had hoped that talks could resume after negotiations broke up in confusion and some acrimony on Tuesday night, but the expectations came to nothing, when it emerged that Mr Siegel had returned to Texas.

The two sides are trying to agree a framework procedure for dealing with redundancies at the catering company and have been helped in their discussions by the intervention of Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC.

Gate Gourmet had threatened to put the catering firm into administration if no deal had been achieved by Tuesday afternoon. That deadline has passed without any action by the American-owned group.

Gate Gourmet has said that its survival depends on striking improved terms for its catering contract with British Airways because it is losing £25 million a year. The airline, which has relied on outsourced catering suppliers since it sold its in-house team in 1997, confirmed yesterday that it had agreed a deal with the American group and said that it was prepared to sign the contract as soon as Gate Gourmet and the T&G had settled their differences.

The T&G and Gate Gourmet have reached an impasse over whether 670 Gate Gourmet workers, who were sacked two weeks ago, will be reinstated.

Gate Gourmet says that it will not take back workers it has described as “troublemakers”. “The hardliners and militants are never coming back,” Mr Siegel has said.

The dispute broke out two weeks ago, when Gate Gourmet dismissed 670 staff after they illegally walked out in protest at the company’s restructuring plans. A day later BA ground staff at Heathrow Airport walked out in sympathy, forcing the airline to shut down operations, resulting in the cancellation of 700 flights and the loss of £40 million.

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