[g8-sheffield] Subject: Gate Gourmet women worker's statement

Fri Oct 21 01:35:23 BST 2005

See below and realise that whoever you work for it
could be much worse.

In a message dated 19/10/2005 10:48:08 GMT Daylight
Time, liberation at btinternet.com writes:
From: "South Asia Solidarity Group"
<sasg at southasiasolidarity.org>
To: <sasg at southasiasolidarity.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 5:16 PM
Subject: Gate Gourmet women worker's statement

STATEMENT FROM GATE GOURMET WOMEN WORKERS
WE DEMAND JUSTICE AND RESPECT AS WOMEN AND AS
WORKERS!

We, the women workers sacked by Gate Gourmet, urge you
to publicise our experiences at the hands of  the
brutal management of this multinational corporation
and their utter disregard for our basic rights and
dignity. We would also like to remind you that our
struggle continues, and we need your support.

Gate Gourmet is the world's largest supplier of
in-flight meals and operates in over 29 countries.
Internationally, the company has been making profits
of £1.05bn and has assets of £15 billion. In Britain,
Asian women form the majority of the workforce, many
of us - mothers and grandmothers are the sole wage
earners for our families. Our wages are on average
between £6.00 and £7.00 an hour. We had been
struggling for
one year to get the positions of those of us who
were employed on a temporary basis regularised.

The management told us in January 2005 that they were
planning to make 670 people redundant because they
were surplus workers and negotiations had been going
on over this between our union, the TGWU, and the
management.

Despite the management's claims that they had surplus
workers, on 9 August this year we were told that 130
agency workers were to be employed from the next day
onwards. When we came to work at 6am the next morning,
we found that the management people were all already
there (normally they come in at 9am). At 9 am agency
workers were brought to the wash- up department. We
stopped working. Our shop stewards were on that day
involved in a negotiation meeting with management, but
those that were at work, and in some departments the
managers themselves, told us to go to the canteen for
a meeting. When we got there we were told by the
management that we had five minutes to go back to work
otherwise we would be dismissed. We said we wanted to
speak to our union representatives. After five minutes
the management came and threw letters on to the tables
at which we were sitting. They were letters of
dismissal already translated into five languages
Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Gujarati and English obviously
they had been prepared in advance.

At this point we realised that an estimated two
hundred and fifty security guards and armed police,
including a van load with police dogs had entered the
premises. As soon as we were told that we were
dismissed, the doors of the canteen were locked and no
one was allowed to leave. We were told to surrender
our ID cards and locker keys but we refused and said
we wanted to see our union officials. However we were
not allowed to meet these officials although we were
aware that they were in the car park outside. We were
not allowed any food or water or access to toilets for
six hours. Some of us including those who were
pregnant and older women had no choice but to use a
bin from the canteen as a toilet.

At 2.30pm we were surrounded by police and security
guards who stood linking arms. Several of us were
physically dragged out by security guards leading to
injuries. One of us, Ms Benti Bansal, was sitting at a
round table when she was pulled up by her shoulders by
two security guards. Her chair slipped from under her
and she fell to the ground, injuring her back and
neck. She begged them to let her go but they dragged
her across the room. Later she went to hospital and
was prescribed medication. Two other women suffered
panic attacks when security guards tried to grab their
ID cards and locker keys and an ambulance had to be
called, and one woman, Ms Rajpreet Dhaliwal, has
suffered long term damage and has had to have medical
treatment as a result of being prevented from using
the toilet for so many hours. 

Those of us who were on leave on 10 August received
letters of dismissal which were dropped through our
doors by hand in the early hours of the morning. One
of us, who was on holiday at the time, received a
phone call from the management when she returned. They
asked whether she was on the side of the management or
the union. She replied that she did not know what it
was all about but that she would support her
colleagues. A sacking letter was dropped through her
door at 2am.

Such physical assaults, bullying, intimidation, and
attacks on our dignity should not be acceptable in any
workplace in the 21st century. It is also not
acceptable that we still do not know what our position
is - while it has been reported in the press that a
deal has been agreed, none of the workers has been
given any information about who is to be offered their
jobs back, who will face compulsory redundancy and who
will be simply sacked. Currently we are being forced
to try to survive on £50 a week.

We urge you to support our struggle for justice.

JOIN US AT OUR DEMONSTRATION OUTSIDE DOWNING STREET
12.00 - 3.00pm
TUESDAY  25 OCTOBER 2005
Further information on the demonstration from 0207 267 0923

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