Gate Gourmet planned to provoke strikes. posted by Richard Seymour

The catering firm at the centre of the Heathrow travel chaos considered provoking strikes last year to replace staff with cheaper labour, a leaked memo reveals.

A secret briefing presented to bosses at Gate Gourmet outlined plans to trigger a dispute.

It reads: "Recruit, train and security check drivers. Announce intention to trade union, provoking unofficial industrial action from staff. Dismiss current workforce. Replace with new staff."

The draft document, prepared in 2004 and now obtained by the Daily Mirror, sets out a 15-week timetable for goading employees into striking so they could be replaced with lower-paid Eastern European labour trained in secret.

"Current management discarded the plan and its recommendations as entirely inappropriate and undesirable."