7pm on Thursday 6th October 2005 at Conway Hall Red Lion Square, London WC1 Nearest tube: Holborn
Speakers include : Lakhwinder Saran, woman striker from the picketline at Gate Gourmet, and Gate Gourmet shop stewards, Avtar Jouhl, Indian Workers' Association (GB), South Asia Solidarity Group, reports from the trade union movement in India
Sacked workers are still on the picket line outside Gate Gourmet after the Transport and General Workers Union struck a deal with the management on 27th September. According to the deal, 144 strikers were forcibly made redundant and 7 were to remain sacked with no compensation. At the same time 3 baggage handlers at Heathrow Airport who had taken part in a 1000-strong one-day sympathy strike are still suspended. According to the Gate Gourmet workers 'it is not over yet!'
- HOW CAN WE SUPPORT THE GATE GOURMET WORKERS WHO ARE CONTINUING THEIR STRUGGLE?
- WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE STRIKE AND THE DEAL STRUCK BY THE TGWU WITH GATE GOURMET?
- CAN ATTACKS ON WORKERS RIGHTS BY MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES LIKE GATE GOURMET BE EFFECTIVELY CHALLENGED WHEN SOLIDARITY ACTION IS ILLEGAL?
- WHAT IS THE STRATEGY FOR OVERTURNING ANTI-UNION LAWS?
- ASIAN WOMEN WORKERS HAVE RESISTED EXPLOITATIVE EMPLOYERS IN A SERIES OF STRIKES DURING THE LAST THREE DECADES - WHAT ARE THE LESSONS OF THEIR EXPERIENCES?
PLUS REPORTS FROM THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN INDIA - 3,000 Honda workers injured in police attack; security workers in Delhi fight sackings by British company; strike action closes Indian Airports
The Gate Gourmet Dispute
On Wednesday 6th August, Gate Gourmet, the company which supplies in-flight meals to British Airways, sacked 670 of its workers, the majority of whom are Asian women. Prior to this the company had brought in 130 agency employees without any consultation with the workers' union, the TGWU. When the workers questioned this they were told to either go back to their work or leave the premises. When the workers continued to demand answers, the management announced on a megaphone that they were all now sacked. After being locked in the canteen without any food and water or access to toilets for almost eight hours they were dragged out of the building with two private security guards on one side and two policemen on the other.
The next day a thousand baggage handlers and loaders working in Heathrow Airport came out in support of the 670 sacked workers forcing British Airways to cancel all their flights going in and out of Heathrow at one of the busiest times of the year.
Gate Gourmet, an American company with its headquarters in Switzerland, is the world's largest supplier of in-flight meals and operates in over 29 countries. Although the company has been showing a loss in its UK branch, and using this to justify its attacks on workers' rights internationally the company has been making profits of £1.05bn and has assets of £15 billion. In 2002 Gate Gourmet was taken over by the Texas Pacific group, which owns Burger King. David Segal, the owner and chairman of Gate Gourmet worldwide has a history of trying to smash unions in Texas. Eric Born, the UK managing director of Gate Gourmet who claims 'the company will not survive if practices do not change' is also the director of 'Verso Logistics' whose cheap labour is now being brought in to work at Gate Gourmet.
Organised by South Asia Solidarity Group
sasg@southasiasolidarity.org 020 7267 0923
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