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 21^st 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