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U.K.: Indian workers face an uncertain future

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: The future of hundreds of Indian women workers of Gate Gourmet, which supplies in-flight food to the British Airways, remains uncertain more than two months after they were summarily dismissed for protesting against redundancies announced by the management as part of an economy drive.

In an appeal for public support on Thursday, they said many of them were sole wage earners and had children and grandchildren to look after. Even when they had jobs, they were paid, on an average, between £6 and £7 an hour — just a little over the national minimum wage — but for the past two months they were subsisting on £50 a week they got from union funds.

"They are living through a nightmare and there seems to be no end in sight," a spokesperson of the South Asia Solidarity Group, which is leading a campaign to get them justice, said.

Next week, the women will protest outside Downing Street to draw Prime Minister Tony Blair's attention to their plight.

"While it has been reported in the press that a deal has been agreed [to], none of the workers has been given any information about who is to be offered their job 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," they said in a statement.

They accused the management of showing "utter disregard for our basic rights and dignity."

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